Using the Student Lessons
The heart of Evolution and Medicine is a set of five classroom lessons that allow students to discover important concepts related to evolution and medicine. To review these concepts in detail, refer to the Science Content and Conceptual Flow of the Lessons chart (Table 3), found here.
Format of the Lessons
As you review the lessons, you will find that each contains several major features.
At a Glance summarizes the lesson with these sections:
- Overview: Provides a short summary of student activities.
- Major Concepts: Lists the central ideas the lesson is designed to convey.
- Objectives: Lists specific understandings or abilities students should have after completing the lesson.
- Teacher Background: Specifies which portions of the background section, Information about Evolution and Medicine, relate directly to the lesson. We do not intend for this reading material to form the basis of lectures to students, nor do we intend it to be a direct resource for students. Rather, it enhances your understanding of the content so that you can facilitate class discussions, answer student questions, and provide additional examples.
In Advance provides lists of items and other preparations needed for the activities:
- Web-Based Activities: Tells you which of the lessonís activities use the Evolution and Medicine Web site as the basis for instruction.
- Photocopies: Lists the paper copies and overhead transparencies that you need to make from the masters provided at the end of the supplement.
- Materials: Lists all the materials other than photocopies that you need for each activity in the lesson.
- Preparation: Outlines what you need to do to be ready to teach the activities.
Procedure outlines the steps in each activity and provides implementation hints and answers to discussion questions.
The Lesson Organizer briefly summarizes the lesson. It outlines procedural steps for each activity and includes icons that notify you when masters, transparencies, and the Web site are used. You should use the lesson organizer only after you become familiar with the detailed procedures for the activities. It can be a handy resource during lesson preparation as well as during classroom instruction.
The Masters to be photocopied (student worksheets and reference materials) are at the back of the supplement.
Icons appear throughout the lessons. They alert you to teaching aids that can help you implement the activities and enrich student learning.
|Indicates steps that you can use as assessments, including informal indicators of student understanding and the final assessment at the end of each lesson.|
|Identifies teaching strategies that address specific science content standards as defined by the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996).|
|Shows when to use the Web site as part of the teaching strategy. A print-based alternative to each Web-based activity is provided for classrooms that donít have Internet access.|
|Identifies a print-based alternative to a Web-based activity.|
|Identifies suggestions from field-test teachers for teaching strategies, classroom management, and supplement implementation.|
The timeline below (Table 8) outlines the optimal plan for completing the five lessons. It assumes you will teach the activities on consecutive days of 50-minute class periods. If your class requires more time for discussing issues raised in this supplement or for completing activities, adjust your timeline accordingly.