Starburst Evolution
In case you didn't know, teaching is an incredibly difficult profession. It is especially hard the first few years as you create new lesson plans, work on classroom management skills, and navigate interactions with colleagues, superiors, and parents. I fully support utilizing whatever resources are available to you in order to make the beginning of your career easier.
When I knew I would be taking time off after starting a family, I tried to find ways I could help my replacement start off as strongly as possible. If I remember correctly, he had some informal instruction experience but little formal teaching experience. I copied everything I had to leave for him: notes (whether typed or handwritten), labs, and tests. I wrote post-it notes to indicate things I would have changed, and I passed along sites I felt were particularly good sources of information. I also e-mailed him all of my power point presentations. My hope was that if he didn't have to spend tremendous amounts of time generating content for the class, he could instead spend time tweaking the material to best fit his style and needs. He would be less stressed and therefore a more effective teacher. (A few years after he started, he became the department chair, so he must have found his groove pretty quickly!)
I myself borrowed from online resources, but I also created some decent activities of my own. My favorite was a demonstration on evolution using Starburst. I chose Starburst because the flavors are pretty distinct, and usually people strongly like or dislike certain flavors. I started with a bowl full of Starburst. In order to make sure availability of flavors did not influence anyone's choice of flavor, I had a surplus of every flavor in the bowl. I instructed students to pass around the bowl and select one piece of candy. At first, the students thought I was just being nice and giving them a snack. Before they could eat the candy, though, we added up the number of each flavor remaining in the bowl. We assumed that each remaining "individual" had an equal chance of successful reproduction at that point and calculated the percentages of each flavor within the total population. We compared those percentages to the initial percentages, and of course they had changed. Making another assumption that flavor was genetically determined, evolution had therefore occurred since the genetic composition of the population had changed.
Invariably, lemon Starburst was the most abundant flavor of the offspring generation. We then discussed what adaptations lemon might have evolved in order to increase its chances at survival (and therefore improved reproductive success - contrary to popular belief, evolution is not "survival of the fittest," unless you are talking about reproductive fitness, a biology term that refers to how successfully you pass on your genes to the next generation). Students suggested that lemon could have evolved a noxious taste and bright coloration to advertise its unpalatable nature.
At the conclusion of the lesson, students were allowed to eat the candy. They got food and hopefully a better understanding of evolution at the same time. Win-win.
When I knew I would be taking time off after starting a family, I tried to find ways I could help my replacement start off as strongly as possible. If I remember correctly, he had some informal instruction experience but little formal teaching experience. I copied everything I had to leave for him: notes (whether typed or handwritten), labs, and tests. I wrote post-it notes to indicate things I would have changed, and I passed along sites I felt were particularly good sources of information. I also e-mailed him all of my power point presentations. My hope was that if he didn't have to spend tremendous amounts of time generating content for the class, he could instead spend time tweaking the material to best fit his style and needs. He would be less stressed and therefore a more effective teacher. (A few years after he started, he became the department chair, so he must have found his groove pretty quickly!)
I myself borrowed from online resources, but I also created some decent activities of my own. My favorite was a demonstration on evolution using Starburst. I chose Starburst because the flavors are pretty distinct, and usually people strongly like or dislike certain flavors. I started with a bowl full of Starburst. In order to make sure availability of flavors did not influence anyone's choice of flavor, I had a surplus of every flavor in the bowl. I instructed students to pass around the bowl and select one piece of candy. At first, the students thought I was just being nice and giving them a snack. Before they could eat the candy, though, we added up the number of each flavor remaining in the bowl. We assumed that each remaining "individual" had an equal chance of successful reproduction at that point and calculated the percentages of each flavor within the total population. We compared those percentages to the initial percentages, and of course they had changed. Making another assumption that flavor was genetically determined, evolution had therefore occurred since the genetic composition of the population had changed.
Invariably, lemon Starburst was the most abundant flavor of the offspring generation. We then discussed what adaptations lemon might have evolved in order to increase its chances at survival (and therefore improved reproductive success - contrary to popular belief, evolution is not "survival of the fittest," unless you are talking about reproductive fitness, a biology term that refers to how successfully you pass on your genes to the next generation). Students suggested that lemon could have evolved a noxious taste and bright coloration to advertise its unpalatable nature.
At the conclusion of the lesson, students were allowed to eat the candy. They got food and hopefully a better understanding of evolution at the same time. Win-win.
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