Organism Creation

Introduction

Overview:

Organisms of all shapes and sizes and all manners of locations around the globe are uniquely suited to their environment.  Every trait an organism possesses has been carefully curated over hundreds to thousands of years.  We have gone over this, to an extent, in our genetics unit.  

In that unit, you used heredity and probability to generate a unique organism of your own creation, free of any constraints.  Today, that changes.   You will be thrusting your organism into a specific environment on this planet, and altering it to meet the demands of that environment.

Task

Overview:

In this project, you will further modify the organism you created in our genetics project this year.  You will be generating at least 8 new structural adaptations,  1 new behavioral adaptation and 1 new physiological adaptation.  The environment for which your organism belongs and adapts to will be selected by you, given the list of biomes in our world.  You will create/recreate a drawing/model of your organism and a written biography.

Process

Steps for Successful Assignment Completion:

1.  View the Google Slides presentation found on google classroom to determine the type of environment you want your organism to adapt to.  Additional websites have been provided for your use as well.  With a selection made, decide on the following information as a reminder/guide for your work.

  • My organism’s environment type/biome (Specific):

  • My organism’s environment location (Specific):

  • Characteristics of this environment (temperature, rainfall, vegetation)

  • Organisms which inhabit this area to be considered for predators and prey

2.  Create your own organism that has at least eight (8) structural adaptations, one (1) physiological adaptations,  as well as one (1) behavioral adaptation. You must take your given environment into consideration when creating the traits for your organism.  The adaptations you are developing need to be helpful for the environment you selected.

 

Adaptation categories to consider can/should stem from our notes and the websites provided to you.

 

3.  Drawing/Model – The image of your organism in his/her/its natural environment should:

-Be created to the best of your ability.

- Be placed on at least 11 x 17 inch paper.  All of the space should be used.

- Show all 10 structural/physiological/behavioral adaptations drawn and labeled 

- Show what your organism’s environment is like.

- Use color in the organism and the environment

 

4.  Biography – The written biography of your organism should:

- Follow proper formatting guidelines  (Use what you have learned).

- Be at least four (4) paragraphs in length, following the format below.

- Paragraph 1:    Introduce your organism by a name you have created for it.  

Follow this with the general size and weight of the organism in 

  adult form and the 2 organisms it is most closely related to.

- Paragraph 2:  Describe the natural environment your organism can be found 

inhabiting.  Be detailed, using 5 facts about your biome 

  and including at least location.  Additionally, name 2 predators 

which hunt your organism and 2 organisms which your organism 

considers to be prey.  

-Paragraph 3:  Name and explain each of the 8 structural adaptations you have 

created for your organism.  Explaining the benefit of each 

adaptation is a must.

-Paragraph 4: Name and explain each of your physiological adaptations and 

behavioral adaptations you have created for your organism.  

Explaining the benefit of each adaptation is a must.

 

5. Final Product – The final draft of your work will be stapled in the upper left hand corner and will include the following, in order:

 

1. Biography (Typed or written neatly) which follows the format above.

 

2. Drawing/Model completed neatly, which follows the format above.

 

Evaluation

Organism Adaptation Project

 

Grading Checklist

 

  1. Biography (40)

    1. Paragraph 1 (5) ______

      1. Organism Name ______

      2. Size/Weight ______

      3. Closely related species ______

 

  1. Paragraph 2 (10) ______

    1. Biome Name ______

    2. Environment Location ______

    3. Environment Fact 2 ______

    4. Environment Fact 3 ______

    5. Environment Fact 4 ______

    6. Environment Fact 5 ______

 

  1. Paragraph 3 (20) ______

    1. 8 Structural adaptations identified ______

    2. 8 Structural adaptation benefits explained ______

 

  1. Paragraph 4 (5) ______

    1. 1 Physio. adaptation identified/explained ______

    2. 1 Behav. adaptations identified/explained ______



 

  1. Drawing (50) ______

 

  1. Adaptations (15) ______

 

  1. Labels (15) ______

 

  1. Color Used (5) ______

 

  1. Proper Size Utilized (5) ______

 

  1. Environment Shown ((10) - 5 characteristics) ______

 

  1. Overall neatness (10) ______

 

  1. Biography (5) ______

  2. Drawing/Model (5) ______





 

Conclusion

Conclusion

 

At the completion of this project, I would love to hear your feedback on this project.  Specifically, I would like to know:

 

1.  How you felt this project wrapped up our content on ecosystems, adaptations, and natural selection?

2.  Did you favor this type of culminating assignment over taking a standard quiz?

3.  Was it meaningful to have this project relate to past content and projects in this course?

4.  Did you find the websites provided to be informative, easy to use, and helpful to the overall goal of the project?  

 

Please email me your thoughts, from your school email address.

 

Credits
Teacher Page

This content covers standards found for 8th grade 'life science' students in the state of Pennsylvania.  More specifically, the new and upcoming STEELS science standards are the focus versus.  The webpage for that content is below.

 

https://pdesas.org/Page/Viewer/ViewPage/58