LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Comparative anatomy: A continuum

In groups, students will design a presentation that will trace the development of an organ system through the major phyla of the animal kingdom looking for the relationships between structure and function by documenting adaptations.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Development, Information Skills, and Science

By Joan Warner and Melissa Thibault

chalk drawing of a giraffe's digestive system on a brick wall

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Learning outcomes

Biology objectives

  • Describe characteristics of an organ system
  • Compare the advantages of aquatic and terrestrial environments for animals
  • Compare the mechanism of food getting and digestion in a variety of animals
  • Explain how some animals can exist without specialized organs for oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange
  • Describe the differences between open and closed circulatory systems
  • Explain the role of the nervous system in coordination
  • State the advantages of endoskeletons and exoskeletons
  • Compare the stages of development in a variety animals
  • Identify relationships between the process of oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange and water balance in both aquatic and terrestrial animals
  • Compare reproductive adaptations in a variety animals

Information Skills objectives

  • Identify sources in print and non-print media
  • Evaluate sources for credibility
  • Select material to support the assignment
  • Document sources using an established citation method
  • Produce and present findings verbally using multimedia tools

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

10 days

Materials/resources

  • Print sources to research animal systems
  • Materials necessary to create visuals for an oral presentation.

Technology resources

  • Internet access and electronic resources, as available
  • PowerPoint or another multi-media presentation tool, as available
  • Data projector or other presentation device(s)

Pre-activities

Begin with a discussion of taxonomy and classification, explaining how organisms fit into the levels of classification. Discussion may include a review of the kingdoms of life and a review of binomial nomenclature. If you plan to use PowerPoint, you may do a quick introduction to the program using the PowerPoint in a Nutshell presentation. Script for the presentation is visible in Notes view.

Activities

Follow the development of your system through the major phyla of the animal kingdom, looking for advantages or adaptations in the system. Trace the system from simple organisms, such as sponges, through to the most complex, mammals.

Working in your group, prepare a comprehensive presentation on the assigned system.

  1. Choose a representative organism from each of the sixteen listed phyla.
  2. Research and describe the structure and function of your assigned organ system in each of the representative organisms you have chosen.
  3. Use text and images to illustrate the advantages and adaptations you have discovered in the system as you moved through the sixteen phyla.
  4. Use at least three different formats for your sources. You may choose to use your textbook, other print sources, electronic sources, or Internet sites.

PowerPoint Presentations

This assignment should not be the first PowerPoint students have done.

  1. This presentation must not exceed fifteen minutes.
  2. Every group member must contribute verbally during this presentation.
  3. You must include text and illustrations. Illustrations may be drawn, scanned, or captured from a website. All images must be credited to the source using a standard format.
  4. Sources must be credible and must be given credit in a bibliography on the last slide(s) of your presentation.

Alternative: if PowerPoint, Hyperstudio or another multimedia presentation program is unavailable, students may make posters or diagrams and present with a flip-chart.

Maintain a Journal

Students will keep a journal throughout the project for reflection, as well as for self and peer evaluation. You may choose to use some of the following prompts.

  1. My group member encouraged others with positive and constructive comments when he/she…
  2. I encouraged others with positive and constructive comments when I…
  3. My group member showed willingness to help others when…
  4. I showed willingness to help others when…
  5. My group member successfully solved a problem by…
  6. I successfully solved a problem by…
  7. I liked the group responsibilities and roles because…
  8. I disliked the group responsibilities and roles because…
  9. My group member gave ideas to the group including…
  10. I gave ideas to the group including…
  11. My group member listened to the ideas of others without judging them including…
  12. I listened to the ideas of others without judging them including…
  13. One great resource our group found was…
  14. Another way I could show my understanding of animal systems is…

Individual Assignment

A unifying theme in biology is that an organism and its environment are complementary. Animal structure is interconnected with the requirements of animal life and the means of coping with the environment. Choose one organism from any phylum and explain how that organism illustrates this principle. Discuss each system and how that system enables that organism to live successfully in its environment.

Assessment

Presentation rubric

Supplemental information

Assignment handout

Group roles

Phyla and systems

Websites handout

Journal prompts

Modifications

Create a timeline for the project.

#2 list parts and functions.

#4 use LEARN NC database for information on a lower reading level.

Use native language resources.

Alternative assessments

Create a presentation and visual rubric just for the ELL’s.

Allow LEP students to point when teammates are speaking.

Critical vocabulary

  • digestive system
  • digest
  • chemically and mechanically
  • pass/move
  • taxonomy
  • classification

Comments

Suggested Timeline

Day 1: Discussion of assignment, expectations, group roles, initial planning by groups

Days 2–5: Research

Days 6–10: Work on Presentation/Research

This timeline does not include the days needed for your students to present their projects. The assignment limits their presentations to fifteen minutes, encourage them to be short and to the point. Ideally, we envisioned three minutes per student for a total of twelve minutes.

Individual Assignment

This assignment should be given to each student at the conclusion of the presentations. You may require the students to complete this as a homework assignment, or it can be given to them as an in class assignment. In grading this assignment, please refer to the Teacher’s Lesson Goals/Objectives, and direct students to the objectives that pertain to each system for this assignment. You want the students to demonstrate an understanding of the adaptations that each system has to function successfully in the environment.

Group Selection

About two weeks before I give the students the assignment, I ask them to raise their hands if they have created a PowerPoint presentation and feel like they know this software. I write down the names of these students. When it comes time to put together groups, I make sure that every group has at least one person who is comfortable with the software.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

English Language Development (2005)

  • Objective 0.01: Use new vocabulary in speech.
  • Objective 0.02: Comprehend most conversational questions on familiar topics spoken at a normal speed.
  • Objective 0.02: Develop vocabulary based on non-academic and academic topics.
  • Objective 0.02: Read and identify basic text features (e.g., title, table of contents, chapter headings, index).
  • Objective 0.02: Develop strategies for guided note-taking.
  • Objective 0.03: Understand and follow multiple-step directions on academic topics when spoken at a normal speed with occasional difficulty.
  • Objective 0.03: Use various reading strategies to extend comprehension.
  • Objective 0.03: Demonstrate organization by supporting a central idea.
  • Objective 0.04: Comprehend academic questions spoken at normal speed with occasional difficulty.
  • Objective 0.04: Comprehend most questions on familiar and academic topics if spoken distinctly at a normal rate of speech with occasional difficulty.
  • Objective 0.04: Use new vocabulary in speech.
  • Objective 0.04: Produce written expressions of opinion and reactions to information from a variety of media.
  • Objective 0.04: Write paragraphs on familiar topics and on previously learned academic content using the elements of a paragraph.
  • Objective 0.05: Understand simple conversations on familiar topics spoken at a normal rate of speech.
  • Objective 0.05: Use oral communication to identify and organize academic information.
  • Objective 0.06: Interact with text before, during, and after reading.
  • Objective 0.06: Demonstrate an increased knowledge of academic content vocabulary in simplified text.
  • Objective 0.07: Answer instructional questions with supporting details.
  • Objective 0.07: Use a rubric to self-assess writing.
  • Objective 0.08: Begin to use contextual clues to understand and respond to informational text.
  • Objective 0.08: Negotiate meaning by questioning, restating, soliciting information, and paraphrasing.
  • Objective 0.10: Use contextual clues to understand and respond to informational text.
  • Objective 0.10: Begin to actively participate in social conversations and classroom discussions with peers and adults on familiar topics by asking/answering questions and soliciting information.
  • Objective 0.13: Begin to negotiate meaning by questioning, restating, and describing.

    • Information Skills (2000)

    Grade 9–12

    • Goal 2: The learner will IDENTIFY and USE criteria for excellence to evaluate information and formats.
      • Objective 2.05: Determine accuracy, relevance, and comprehensiveness of information resources.
    • Goal 4: The learner will EXPLORE and USE research processes to meet information needs.

    Science (2005)

    Grade 9–12 — Biology

    • Goal 4: The learner will develop an understanding of the unity and diversity of life.
      • Objective 4.01: Analyze the classification of organisms according to their evolutionary relationships.
        • The historical development and changing nature of classification systems.
        • Similarities and differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.
        • Similarities and differences among the eukaryotic kingdoms: Protists, Fungi, Plants, Animals.
        • Classify organisms using keys.
      • Objective 4.02: Analyze the processes by which organisms representative of the following groups accomplish essential life functions including:
        • Unicellular protists, annelid worms, insects, amphibians, mammals, non vascular plants, gymnosperms and angiosperms.
        • Transport, excretion, respiration, regulation, nutrition, synthesis, reproduction, and growth and development.

    • North Carolina Essential Standards

      • Information and Technology Skills (2010)

        • Grades 9 - 12

          • HS.TT.1 Use technology and other resources for assigned tasks. HS.TT.1 Use appropriate technology tools and other resources to access information (multi-database search engines, online primary resources, virtual interviews with content experts). HS.TT.2 Use...

      • Science (2010)

        • Biology

          • Bio.2.1 Analyze the interdependence of living organisms within their environments. Bio.2.1.1 Analyze the flow of energy and cycling of matter (water, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen) through ecosystems relating the significance of each to maintaining the health...
          • Bio.3.5 Analyze how classification systems are developed based upon speciation. Bio.3.5.1 Explain the historical development and changing nature of classification systems. Bio.3.5.2 Analyze the classification of organisms according to their evolutionary relationships...