Learning Objective 1 - Image depicting evolution

Learning Objective 1 - Students will display their understanding of genetic variation by creating an image in Google Drawings that depicts the change in organisms over time from populations with differing levels of genetic variation with at least 80% accuracy according to the rubric provided.

The Activity
This activity, called Breeding New Species, falls in the middle of Bloom's taxonomy under the "Applying" category.  In the activity I ask students to choose a species they think would have interesting looking descendants.  It could be a real species such as the domestic cat, or a made up one such as a hippogriff.  I then ask them to create an image depicting the phenotypic changes that occur in the descendant species due to selection when the ancestral population had high genetic variation and when the ancestral population had low genetic variation.  The final images get posted on our class wiki with a description of the image and how the student created it.

The Assessment
This activity will be used to assess the students' level of understanding of how genetic variation affects evolution.  Their images should show that populations that have high levels of genetic variation will be able to evolve into multiple different species, as depicted below.  Populations with low levels of genetic variation will either not change or will not have as many different species evolving from them.  A rubric will be provided to help students assess their progress on the activity.

Image Depicting Evolution of Beak Size in a Population

By National Human Genome Research Institute's Talking Glossary [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Assessment Tool
The assessment tool I chose for this activity was Google Drawings.  Students can use Google Drawings to modify pictures, or draw their own, to create an image depicting evolution.  Then students can share their work with me and the rest of the class by providing us with a link, or embedding it in our class wiki.  With Google Drawings there may be some issues with limited capability if the students try to create really complex images, but the versatility of being able to share the image with us easily and post it on our wiki will be beneficial to everyone.  Internet connection is a requirement though.  Hopefully that would not be a big problem for people taking online classes.

Plagiarism and Diversity
This project allows students to choose their own way to create an image by using any picture available to them, or drawing their own image.   Then students are asked to modify that image however they want to depict phenotypic evolution.  By asking students to describe the image and how they created it, the activity becomes more personal and encourages students to actively participate.  Google also allows searches by image, so any final product that is suspect can be searched for online.  However, by asking them to create something based on their interests they may be more motivated to complete the task themselves.  The students in the class have diverse backgrounds that will emerge as they chose their initial images and how they modify them leading to a variety of different and interesting projects.