Unit Project: The Evolution of _______

Here’s your chance to have some fun digging into the history of an animal that you’re
interested in! You will be preparing a five-minute presentation on the evolution of a
species of your choice, focusing on:
● the ​evidence​ that scientists have used to piece together its history and
relationships with other current or past species.
● the ​mechanisms​ of evolution that have helped shape the traits it has today.

Topic Proposal (3 points)

Think about what animal species you may want to research. Then you’ll need to start
gathering resources to make sure you’ll be able to find enough information to do your
project. Do a Google search, or try an academic search engine like
http://www.sweetsearch.com​, and start by typing in “evolution of [your animal].” For
most species, you should find that many high-quality resources pop up. Look through
some of those web pages and check that they are from high-quality sources and include
information that will help you with your presentation.

Include the following information​ in a Google Doc titled​ [Your Name] Evolution of
[Animal Name]​ and share the Doc with Ms. Clay:
● Your name and class period
● The animal you have chosen
● Information about at least ​3​ websites you can use for your report including
○ Title of Page (ex: “Kangaroo Mob: Marsupials - The Evolution Backstory”)
○ Title of Website or Source (ex.: Nature)
○ Link to website

More Research (5 points)

Choose ​five​ sources (these may include some or all of the sources you already
identified in the last step). In this step, you are looking for specific references for the
following sections of your report:
● Overview of the evolution of your animal (When did this animal branch of from
closely related groups? What are some of the early and intermediate forms that
paleontologists have identified as coming before the modern species?)
● Lines of Evidence (What research has been done on the evolution of this animal?
Find information on evidence from at least 2 different lines of evidence.)
● Mechanisms of Evolution (what environmental conditions or interactions with
other species may have shaped the evolution of traits we see in the animal?)
Add to the Google Doc that you already started​ and include the following:
● A full MLA citation for each of your five sources (go to
https://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php​ for help with citations).
● At least 2-3 sentences for each source, briefly describing what information is in
the source and which section(s) of your presentation the source will be useful for.
Make sure that you have at least one source for each section of your report.

Powerpoint (15 points)

Create a PowerPoint that will go with your presentation. Here are some guidelines:
● Minimum length will be five slides, one for each of the following sections, but feel
free to do multiple slides per section:
○ Title Slide/Introduction
○ Overview of the Evolution of [Your Animal]
○ Lines of Evidence
○ Mechanisms of Evolution
○ Sources
● Include the major points that you are going to talk about in your presentation, but
do not write out everything you are going to say on your slides.
● Include at least one image per slide. Make sure you also have image citations!
● Your presentation should be neatly formatted and free of spelling and
grammatical errors.

Submit your Powerpoint to Ms. Clay by email.

Presentation (25 points)

You are now an expert on the evolution of your animal, and it’s time to share what
you’ve learned with the class! Your presentation needs to be at least five minutes long
and demonstrate an understanding of both the evolutionary history of your animal and
the basics of evolution itself. You will be graded both on the content and presentation
(see scoring guide), so be sure to practice and come prepared!

There will also be a time for questions and comments after each presentation, so be
ready to answer questions about your animal.

Peer Questions/Critique (2 points)

You will be required to respond to two classmates’ presentations with either a question
or a constructive, positive comment about their presentation.