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Moose in the San Juan Mountains

Moose in the San Juan Mountains

AP Extra Reading

Choose one of these books each quarter. Please post a two paragraph reflection by the first day of the last week of each quarter.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
The Panda's Thumb by Stephen Jay Gould
Origins by Richard Leakey
The Lives of a Cell and The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas
The Double Helix by James Watson
A Sand County ALMANAC by Aldo Leopold

Animal Diversity Project

Students do an independent group project (2-3 per group) researching the diversity of the animal kingdom. Chapters 32-34, and 40 are their primary resources, but students are encouraged to do a thorough Internet search as well. The goal of the project is to create an opportunity to creatively detail their understanding of the characteristics that separate individual phyla of invertebrates and vertebrate classes. A significant portion of their grade focuses on how well they incorporate an evolutionary component.
Students will use Photostory 3 or Movie Maker to present their research and learning.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Panda's Thumb

Post your reflections here.

8 comments:

Gemerency said...

a very good book. The Panda's Thumb is focusing mainly on Darwins theory of natural selection and the flaws in a creatures biological architecture to prove evolution. The title comes from the books first example of evolution. The panda has in essence six fingers, two of which are thumbs, one is actually a solitary bone growing from the arm and the other is an actual humal like thumb, the panda uses both when peeling a bamboo stick of its leaves. Throught the book their are simaler examples of the flaws in different animals. The books overal goal is to point out that all the problems are evidence of evoluion. Evoluion works for perfection but cant fix every thing that goes wrong, these flaws are the remainders of past evoltions that didn't work as well as expected (human apendix?)This book was well writen and held my attention for the entire ride, and i can honestly say, i know really do belive in the entire evolutionary process

Mrs. Cochran said...

It sounds like you enjoyed the ideas in this book. I'm glad you got to experience this viewpoint of evolution! Good summary!

Taelor said...

"The Panda's Thumb" is a book all about evolution. It describes many aspects of evolution from the steps it takes to evolve to natural selection. The book talked highly of Darwin and his theories on evolution as well as natural selection. There were many examples ranging from animals to humans, and even evolution of Mickey Mouse. Overall, this book was difficult to read because it refers to many essays and examples written by other authors as well as uses a large vocabulary. I would only recommend this book if you really wanted to learn a lot about evolution. Although the book was not very appealing, my favorite part was when the author, Stephen Jay Gould, explained convergent evolution. I had never thought of this feature of evolution before until now, but it was very interesting how he compared several species of fish. Even though the book was not fascinating as I had hoped, I did learn many new facts.

Mrs. Cochran said...

Taelor, it's always good to look at different viewpoints and learn about new connections.

Unknown said...

The pandas thumb was a very interesting book about the diversity of animal evolution including the flaws and natural selection. I really enjoyed the look into Darwin’s theories on animal evolution, but I do also understand that this book is not for everyone but it helps to go in with an open mind. I thought that it was remarkable to think of all the way that the animals had changed over time to beat extinction, and how it works to achieve faultlessness. I also found the book harder to read and to stay focused with all of the different essays and different topics all from animal, to human evolution. All in all I truly enjoyed this book and found it very insightful with all of the different viewpoints and the inside looks of Darwin’s theory.

Bekah said...

The Panda's thumb... Well it was a very interesting book. It would have been helpful with history fair, however I do agree that it is confusing to read. It is a book that you have to think abou a lot. It is definately meant for those who know the big picture of evolution. It amazes me how much there is that you can learn and know. This one book praising the findings and year of research and hard work that Darwin did to compose his theory. There are so many things that we only see through a small window. This book really made me think! I agree with Taelor that the covergent evolution was really interesting. It was a good book but not one that I would convince anyone to read unless they are seriously interested in what he did.

Bekah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mrs. Cochran said...

Billy and Bekah,
Glad you found the book insightful. I'm also thrilled when they make you think "wider". Mrs. Cochran