Visual Biology: Evolutionary Biology

Dive into the captivating realm of biology, where the intricacies of living systems unfold. This asynchronous flex class, based on our incredibly popular weekly Visual Biology Ongoing class,  allows middle and high school learners with any schedule and any any time zone are to embark on an exciting journey that combines their creativity and collaboration skills with the exploration of recent research in biology. Through the engaging practice of sketchnoting, a visual note taking technique, students will develop creative notes that summarize the latest scientific discoveries. 

Our teaching methodology, sketchnoting, is a visual note taking technique that harnesses the doodling many of us naturally do during classes and enhances learning by focusing those drawings into workable notes. Weekly assignments are administered through Padlet, a distance learning tool. Learners use a link posted in the classroom to work through all of the activities on the Padlet for that week. 

Each week's module will explore a different objective aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for high school learners. Each module will include an article covering recent research, all taken from Smithsonian Magazine, and a recorded video lesson with the teacher explaining how this article ties to a the bigger biology concept from the NGSS through drawing and visual note-taking. Something to draw on and something to draw with is all that is needed. The remainder of the module will include several extension activities and videos, all administered through Nearpod, along with short answer questions to check for understanding. Learners will receive weekly video messages from the teacher through their Outschool messages evaluating the work they have submitted, and a grade can be provided if requested. 

Here is the breakdown of topics for this course: 

HS.LS4: Biological Evolution

Week One
HS.LS4.1: Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.

Week Two
HS.LS4.2: Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment.

Week Three
HS.LS4.3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait.

Week Four
HS.LS4.4: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

Week Five
HS.LS4.5: Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.

Week Six
HS.LS4.6: Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.