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'How Closely Related Are We?' Activity

Adriane Musacchio

Hello everyone!, 

This week in my BHP Classroom we started Unit 5- Life! I am always so excited to roll out this Unit because the excitement and curiosity seems to grow exponentially from here. I must shout out the How Closely Related Are We? Activity for creating a boom of excitement and curiosity in the first lesson of the Unit. I have rolled this activity out a bit differently each year, but I really like how I did it this year.

This is how I rolled things out in my classroom today:

  • First, we did a little brainstorm to "dust our brains off" on some prior knowledge from last year's Living Environment class. I start by asking students what an organism is? What they remember about DNA? single celled organisms? We take some notes on these content vocabulary words. 
  • After doing this, I ask my students if they can name two organism that are "similar" to one another. We then bring up photos of the examples students list off so that everyone can visually see some of the similarities. (donkey & horse, oak and maple trees, and crocodile and alligator were popular ones mentioned today). Although this is not the exact activity we were about to conduct, it puts students in the mindset of- what organisms might have similarities with one another and why. 
  • Then, we engage with the activity! How Closely Related Are We? . I give students 7 minutes to talk through what logically makes sense. What percentage of DNA do we have in common with the organisms listed?
  • We then do a full class share out of what students think the order might be. Groups share their logic out loud. Then, we have a "revision round" - students are given 5 more minutes to either lock their answers in, or make revisions. 
  • Then- the big answer reveal!! And just like that students are curious, the energy of the classroom is up, and they are hooked into the unit! 

Wondering if anyone else in the community has tried this activity? What has your experience been like? How have you rolled it out in your classroom? 

     

Parents

  •   I use this activity in the first lesson for Threshold Five: Life. I start the unit with an open question I post on Padlet "What is life? How is life different from non-life such as rocks, stars, or rain?" Students write their answers I project on my teckboard and we discuss them.

    Then I show the introductory OER video with Rachel Hansen to make connections with the previous threshold and anticipate what is coming. Following that, we skim over an article "The Hunt for Life Beyond Earth" and we debrief the main ideas. The point is to show that life exists in a big spectrum of environments and under extreme conditions. This is what astrobiologists are searching for. 

    Afterwards students solved the activity "How Close Related Are We? Like you, my students enjoy it and make good guesses, though not always correct. We discuss the rationale behind their choices and the enthusiasm is high. I also show them this infographic I got from Nat Geo years ago that shows a sort of timeline of evolution and our connection to several forms of life. Then we refer to the Tree of Life infographic where students visualize the number of species that are part of the domains, being bacteria the largest. 

    I LOVE your questions Adriane because they pave the way to understand similarities and the reasons for that. At the same time it will be a good point to later connect with homologous structures and analogous adaptation. I made a copy of yours for next year because I think they will work much better with students. Thank you for posting it!

  • in reply to Laura Massa
    Laura Massa said:

    I also show them this infographic I got from Nat Geo years ago that shows a sort of timeline of evolution and our connection to several forms of life. Then we refer to the Tree of Life infographic where students visualize the number of species that are part of the domains, being bacteria the largest. 

    This is such a great infographic to present prior to the Tree of Life Infographic! In NYC, high schools had testing last week ... which put my unit on pause. My first lesson once we come back from our standardized testing week is actually the lesson that I present the Tree of Life infographic! I plan on using this additional material you linked in from Nat Geo- thank you!!! 

    I also love how you have students list off differences between life and non life- great way to jump into the unit!! Thank you for sharing how you roll this out in your classroom,  ! 

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  • in reply to Laura Massa
    Laura Massa said:

    I also show them this infographic I got from Nat Geo years ago that shows a sort of timeline of evolution and our connection to several forms of life. Then we refer to the Tree of Life infographic where students visualize the number of species that are part of the domains, being bacteria the largest. 

    This is such a great infographic to present prior to the Tree of Life Infographic! In NYC, high schools had testing last week ... which put my unit on pause. My first lesson once we come back from our standardized testing week is actually the lesson that I present the Tree of Life infographic! I plan on using this additional material you linked in from Nat Geo- thank you!!! 

    I also love how you have students list off differences between life and non life- great way to jump into the unit!! Thank you for sharing how you roll this out in your classroom,  ! 

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