Digital Unit Plan Goals, Objectives and Assessments

Unit Title:

Evolution

Content Area:

Biology

Name:

Michelle Cortez

Grade Level:

10

Next Generation Science Standards/Performance Expectations

P.E. Bundles.
1. HS-ESS2-A. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earths surface
can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. / HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the
claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain
relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing
conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
2. HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to
adaptation of populations.
3. HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human
activities on the environment and biodiversity. / HS-LS4-6. Create or revise a simulation to
test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activities on biodiversity.

DCIs:
1. ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems and LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and
Resilience
2. LS4.C: Adaptation
3. LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans, and EST1.B Developing Possible Solutions

Anchoring Activity

You are a scuba diver and want to go on a dive in Newport Beach. You have not been there in a
few years and remember it being beautiful with clear waters and many types of fish. You are
shocked upon going that the water now is not as clear as it was before and it seems there are
less fish species. You are wondering why you are seeing so many changes over a short period of
time and wondered what caused this. You talk to locals and read local newspapers and they
believe that pollution and overfishing are the cause. You will evaluate these claims to determine
if this is accurate. You want to help restore this ecosystem, but do not know how. How can you
help?
Anchoring Phenomenon: Humans contribute to a loss in biodiversity.
Driving Question of the Unit

How can we reduce the impacts we have on the environment?

Unit Goals---Describe what you want students to be able to do. For example, I wanted my students to be able to know when to
use the epistemic practices when I gave them verbal or visual cues. Students will need to be able to recognize science even if it
is not in the verbal form. See the article Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists. A summary of
the article is in the appendix of this unit plan template.

From the summary below:

1. Students will
needed.
2. Students will
lives.
3. Students will
with the goal

understand the context of a problem to understand what type of methods are

develop the skills to recognize when and how science is relevant in their daily
engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem,
of uncovering epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface of science and

daily life.
Lesson 1 Is it Our Fault?
Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Using the procedure for

Students will complete the argumentation procedure form.
argumentation, students will
evaluate claims that human
activities are affecting the
environment.
Lesson 2 Human Impacts on Biodiversity
Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will list at least 5

examples of human activities that
can affect biodiversity and will
explain how those activities could
affect biodiversity.

Students will list and justify 5 examples of human activities

as an exit slip.
(Example: the introduction of invasive species poses a
problem for biodiversity because the invasive species have
no natural predators for this new environment and are likely
to outcompete species that already live here.)

Lesson 3 Changes in the Ocean Environment

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Using the procedure for

investigation, students will
examine the effects of acid on
seashells.

Students will complete the investigation procedure form.

Lesson 4 Adaptations to Changing Ocean Conditions

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Using the procedure for

Students will write a summary on how sea urchins are

negotiating an expository text,

students will summarize in a
paragraph how sea urchins are
adapting to changing oceanic
conditions.

adapting to changing oceanic conditions.

(Students are expected to include vocabulary terms like
natural selection, adaptation, and fitness).

Lesson 5 Solutions
Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will examine 3 possible

solutions for reducing human
impact on the environment.

Students will participate in a partnered and class discussion

to define 3 possible solutions.

Unit Summative Assessment

Students will create, research, revise, and present a plan for reducing our impacts on the
environment. Students are to look at a solution to help the ocean environment, although the
change can also be beneficial to other environments. Students are to create a poster/PowerPoint
and will present their solution in front of the class.
Useful Websites:

www.nooa.gov
http://coralreef.noaa.gov/education/oa/resources/ocb-oa_labkit102609_woods_hole.pdf
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-sea-urchins-antarctica-ocean-acidification.html

Review: Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists Science, April 19, 2013.

Summary of the Article:

How People Interact with Science
Individuals have different motivations for using scientific information. Factors that influence the use of
science include social, cultural, and demographic differences. In addition, the type of science that is useful
differs from one problem or issue to another. Science comes in a variety of forms such as experimentation,
observational data or simulations or field research. One goal of science education is to facilitate student
understanding of what forms of science are best suited for the problems that we are trying to solve.
Students will need to understand that science is a flexible philosophical and methodological human
endeavor. The sub-goals of this BIG IDEA are as follows:
Students will need to understand the context of a problem to understand what type of methods are
needed
Students will understand and interpret the scientific principles that speak to the driving questions
and anchoring activities presented in the coursework. The principles will change with subject matter.
Students will engage in ill-structured problems, defined in personal and practical terms, to practice
using different principles and epistemic practices.
Knowing Science: From Knowing the Textbook to Accessing the Science you need

Science education should prepare more students to access and interpret scientific knowledge at the time
and in the context of need. Students will need to be able to read articles and the text book, draw on prior
knowledge to interpret the text, and be able to cross reference what is read with other materials. This is
not simply the application of science for a particular problem, this is reconstructing the science in valid
ways to construct solutions. When it comes to planning science for students some sub-goals of this major
goal are as follows:
To confront students with an ill-structured problem or challenge framed in an anchoring activity to
extend their existing knowledge and develop concrete solutions.
To create a learning environment where students develop the skills to recognize when and how
science is relevant in their daily lives.
To be able to cite textual based evidence to support or refute a claim (CCSS ELA)
To be able to convert a phenomena into a mathematical model (CCSS Math)
Thinking Scientifically: From Practicing Science to Judging Scientific Claims
Students will need to engage in the epistemic practices of science in flexible and creative ways. The
procedures that make up the epistemic practices of argumentation, experimentation, modeling, and the
negotiation of expository text are not static but are guided by the cycle of scientific thinking. Students will
rarely need to go through ALL the steps in a given epistemic procedure in order to engage in scientific
problem solving or research design. However, students will need to make sophisticated judgments about
credibility of scientific claims based on cues like publication venue, institutional affiliation, and potential
conflict of interest. In order to plan lesson that allow students to engage in this big idea teachers will need
to set some of the following goals:
To help students understand how scientists evaluate evidence and how research is packaged for
presentation. Engaging student in argumentation and negotiation of expository text does this. Note:
expository text will need to be presented in more ways then just the textbook.
To help students engage in peer review when teachers are planning an argument or negotiation of
expository text.
Students will engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem, with the
goal of uncovering epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface of science and daily life.
To help students engage in and interpret scientific text.

Appreciating Science: From Positive Feelings to Deep and Durable Involvement

Teachers will need to create learning environments where students develop an appreciation of science and
recognize how science influences their daily lives. Students will need to connect with science though
interest areas and following their personal curiosities. Therefore, some of the sub-goals of the work science
teachers do will be to:
Facilitate students pursing their own science related interest, questions, and personal curiosities
through project-based; inquiry-based; and model based learning.
Facilitate socio-scientific issue discussion in class.
Help students identify and develop individual interest and expertise in the subject matter.
Connect students with science resources in the community such as clubs, museums, projects,
science fair, and business that specialize in science outreach.
Use science-based games to facilitate student interest and curiosity for science problem solving.
Empowering students to use the epistemic practices in their everyday lives and to own the practices
for life long problem-solving.