Lesson 1 (approximately 75 minutes)
Evolution of Feathers and Flight in Birds
Feather structure and function, WAIR vs. BAND, Arboreal vs. Cursorial
Overview
Although flight has evolved on earth many times independently, perhaps no flying organism captivates the human imagination as much as the bird. Early aviators such as Otto Lilienthal drew inspiration from watching birds in flight. Our understanding of the structure, evolution and role of feathers grows deeper each year . Scientists now think that many dinosaurs were covered in an early 'proto-feather' that helped to insulate them and their young from cold temperatures in the environment. Dozens of species of dinosaurs have been unearthed since the 1990's that have remnants of feathers attached to their bodies. Some dinosaurs even had long dramatic tail feathers, but no dinosaurs are thought to have used their feathers to fly. Feathers may have assisted them in climbing up tree trunks and running up inclines however. Understanding the origin and structure of the modern feather helps us consider ways that our engineered aerial vehicles may grow to more closely resemble nature in the future. The feather is lightweight, but strong. In this session, Students will check out Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?, discuss their responses to his short video and then view the documentary The Four Winged Dinosaur as a class before coming back together to discuss the key ideas in the film. Differentiation option: Divide into small groups of two to research the origin of flight in birds through the UCMP Berkeley site Evolution of Flight in Birds.
Materials
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore and complete Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?
Monitor students progress by walking around the room and checking in with individual students to see if they have questions.
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
Optional warm up: Direct students to complete a popcorn style aloud reading of the short Scientific American article - Evolution of Bird Flight Explained.
Distribute
The four winged dinosaur handout (below) that students will use to answer questions as they watch the film.
Next, students will view this video as a class:
Evolution of Feathers and Flight in Birds
Feather structure and function, WAIR vs. BAND, Arboreal vs. Cursorial
Overview
Although flight has evolved on earth many times independently, perhaps no flying organism captivates the human imagination as much as the bird. Early aviators such as Otto Lilienthal drew inspiration from watching birds in flight. Our understanding of the structure, evolution and role of feathers grows deeper each year . Scientists now think that many dinosaurs were covered in an early 'proto-feather' that helped to insulate them and their young from cold temperatures in the environment. Dozens of species of dinosaurs have been unearthed since the 1990's that have remnants of feathers attached to their bodies. Some dinosaurs even had long dramatic tail feathers, but no dinosaurs are thought to have used their feathers to fly. Feathers may have assisted them in climbing up tree trunks and running up inclines however. Understanding the origin and structure of the modern feather helps us consider ways that our engineered aerial vehicles may grow to more closely resemble nature in the future. The feather is lightweight, but strong. In this session, Students will check out Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?, discuss their responses to his short video and then view the documentary The Four Winged Dinosaur as a class before coming back together to discuss the key ideas in the film. Differentiation option: Divide into small groups of two to research the origin of flight in birds through the UCMP Berkeley site Evolution of Flight in Birds.
Materials
- Internet enabled computer for each student
- WAIR: Wing - assisted incline running
- Arboreal: Living in trees, also the name given to the group that believes feathered flight evolved in tree dwelling ancestors of modern birds who benefitted from enhanced gliding capabilities conferred by feathers.
- Cursorial: Adapted for running, the group that posits flight arose in small bipedal theropod dinosaurs who gained advantage in jumping and climbing through feather use.
- Melanosomes: Molecules that help give feathers color
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore and complete Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?
Monitor students progress by walking around the room and checking in with individual students to see if they have questions.
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
- How might the evolution of feathers have provided a selective advantage to dinosaurs if they did not initially confer the ability to fly?
- What good is half a wing festooned with feathers?
- What is the rough time frame for evolution of flight from the first emergence of feathers?
Optional warm up: Direct students to complete a popcorn style aloud reading of the short Scientific American article - Evolution of Bird Flight Explained.
Distribute
The four winged dinosaur handout (below) that students will use to answer questions as they watch the film.
Next, students will view this video as a class:
This portion of the lesson was selected for the 'On the Cutting Edge' Reviewed Teaching Collection and has been reposted from On the Cutting Edge. This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
Alternate assignment: Students in lower grades (6-8) may work in groups of two to work their way through UCMP Berkeley's tutorial on the Evolution of Flight in Birds.
Wrap Up
Students will come back together as a class and discuss the ideas they encountered during the lesson.
Discuss
- Which scenario seems more likely when considering the evolution of bird flight, top down or bottom up?
- How do paleobiologists influence our modern understanding of bird flight?
- Why are many fossils of the earliest birds found in China?
- What selection pressures led to the development of avian flight?
Scientific American - Evolution of Bird Flight Explained
Skeletons Museum of Osteology - Adaptation and Locomotion
NOVA - Evolution of Bird Flight
The Four Winged Dinosaur
Assessment
In this lesson, students will take home an assignment that asks them to take information gleaned from the documentary and write a short, 1 page essay describing which theory of bird flight evolution they find most plausible from the film. Students must use supporting details from their notes on the film to bolster their argument.
fourwingeddinosaurassignment.docx | |
File Size: | 26 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Lesson 2 (approximately 75 minutes)
Convergent evolution in insects, bats and birds, structure and function
Wing structure and function, aeroelasticity, peer-reviewed science writing and publication
Overview
Biological flight has evolved independently several times over the course of Earth's history. Scientists are examining fossil dinosaur remains and some are concluding that flight may have evolved independently several times in the avian lineage alone. It is clear that the ability to fly confers a number of advantages on those fortunate enough to have wings. While humans have learned to fly through the use of the combustion engine, we appear to be on the edge of deciphering battery powered flight for more than experimental applications, and it is clear that the diversity of approaches to human flight is rapidly proliferating. In this lesson, students will again look into the development of flight in the natural world as a precursor to human flight. Students will initially explore animal flight through video, then they will conduct a reading/review of a scientific paper about the flight of birds, bats or insects of their choosing from these search results at Academia.edu and provide a brief five minute summary to their classmates with visuals to help explain key points. One goal of the lesson is to give students a sense of what technical writing is, how they can discern meaning from peer-reviewed papers, and how they can effectively communicate the structure and results of scientific studies to their peers. Another is for them to learn more about the relationship between structure and function as it pertains to the myriad approaches to animal flight.
Materials
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore and complete Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
Direct students to complete a silent reading of the Scientific American article - Evolution of Bird Flight Explained.
View as a class:
Convergent evolution in insects, bats and birds, structure and function
Wing structure and function, aeroelasticity, peer-reviewed science writing and publication
Overview
Biological flight has evolved independently several times over the course of Earth's history. Scientists are examining fossil dinosaur remains and some are concluding that flight may have evolved independently several times in the avian lineage alone. It is clear that the ability to fly confers a number of advantages on those fortunate enough to have wings. While humans have learned to fly through the use of the combustion engine, we appear to be on the edge of deciphering battery powered flight for more than experimental applications, and it is clear that the diversity of approaches to human flight is rapidly proliferating. In this lesson, students will again look into the development of flight in the natural world as a precursor to human flight. Students will initially explore animal flight through video, then they will conduct a reading/review of a scientific paper about the flight of birds, bats or insects of their choosing from these search results at Academia.edu and provide a brief five minute summary to their classmates with visuals to help explain key points. One goal of the lesson is to give students a sense of what technical writing is, how they can discern meaning from peer-reviewed papers, and how they can effectively communicate the structure and results of scientific studies to their peers. Another is for them to learn more about the relationship between structure and function as it pertains to the myriad approaches to animal flight.
Materials
- Internet enabled computer for each student
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore and complete Carl Zimmer's TedEd lesson, How Did Feathers Evolve?
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
- How might the evolution of feathers have provided a selective advantage to dinosaurs if they did not initially confer the ability to fly?
- What good is half a wing festooned with feathers?
- What is the rough time frame for evolution of flight from the first emergence of feathers?
Direct students to complete a silent reading of the Scientific American article - Evolution of Bird Flight Explained.
View as a class:
Give students time to visit the search results for Bird, Bat and Insect flapping winged flight at Academia.edu. They should choose one of the 32 papers there to read through carefully, jotting notes, new vocabulary and questions as they go. Some papers in the search result are not highly relevant to understanding mechanisms of flight, while others are focused narrowly one one aspect of flight. Students should ask questions if they are unsure about what a good article to read might be. In a large class, more than one student might choose the same paper and this is okay. It is good for students to see how their interpretation may differ from that of a classmate. When students have picked and read their papers, they should begin to create a presentation where the salient points are summarized for the class. Any figures in the paper should be explained in layman's language to the extent possible.
Assessment
The presentation is to be approximately 4 to 5 minutes in length and will be graded according to the rubric in appendix F.
Internet resources
Ask a Biologist - Ken Dial on the Evolution of Bird Flight
Eastern Kentucky University - Bio 554/754 Ornithology Origin of Flight notes
University of California Berkeley Vertebrate Flight
NOVA - Evolution of Flight
Assessment
The presentation is to be approximately 4 to 5 minutes in length and will be graded according to the rubric in appendix F.
Internet resources
Ask a Biologist - Ken Dial on the Evolution of Bird Flight
Eastern Kentucky University - Bio 554/754 Ornithology Origin of Flight notes
University of California Berkeley Vertebrate Flight
NOVA - Evolution of Flight
Lesson 3 (Approximately 75 minutes)
Evolution of human flight
Overview
Leonardo da Vinci famously said: “The bird is a machine that operates according to mathematical principles.” He was a man keenly interested in the flight of birds and he knew that humans would one day take to the air in machines inspired by flying birds. Centuries later Otto Lilienthal would author an 1889 book called Bird Flight as the Basis for Aviation. Otto built impressively birdlike gliders and flew in them over 2,000 times before an accident in 1896 broke his spine, ultimately killing him. There were other pioneers both before and after the famous Wright brothers made their first forays into the sky. Alberto Santos-Dumont flew over Paris in a heavier-than-air plane in 1906. From the turn of the 20th century, humans found their way into the heavens in ever increasing numbers and in an ever-increasing variety of aircraft. In this lesson, students will research the history of human made flying machines and create a timetoast timeline with images and captions from ten different moments in the history of aviation.
Materials
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore the history of human flight. They should pick ten moments, achievements, or technologies that resonate with them and use timetoast to create a visual representation of these dates that can be shared with the class.
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
Task
Tell students to use timetoast and the Internet resources listed to create a ten (or more) step online timeline that shows a sequence of steps along the path to flight. Exact dates of events are important. The timeline should focus on short text entries that explain key moments along the way. For each step, an illustration or picture should be included that helps to explain how this step fits into the larger story. Students will share the link to their timelines with the teacher and other members of the class. An optional extension can ask students to evaluate two or more timelines of peers using a rubric and submitting a discussion post or reflective journal entry of about 250 words.
Internet resources:
TimeToast
View as a class:
Evolution of human flight
Overview
Leonardo da Vinci famously said: “The bird is a machine that operates according to mathematical principles.” He was a man keenly interested in the flight of birds and he knew that humans would one day take to the air in machines inspired by flying birds. Centuries later Otto Lilienthal would author an 1889 book called Bird Flight as the Basis for Aviation. Otto built impressively birdlike gliders and flew in them over 2,000 times before an accident in 1896 broke his spine, ultimately killing him. There were other pioneers both before and after the famous Wright brothers made their first forays into the sky. Alberto Santos-Dumont flew over Paris in a heavier-than-air plane in 1906. From the turn of the 20th century, humans found their way into the heavens in ever increasing numbers and in an ever-increasing variety of aircraft. In this lesson, students will research the history of human made flying machines and create a timetoast timeline with images and captions from ten different moments in the history of aviation.
Materials
- Internet enabled computer for each student
Introduction
Ask students to use their laptops to explore the history of human flight. They should pick ten moments, achievements, or technologies that resonate with them and use timetoast to create a visual representation of these dates that can be shared with the class.
ASK Questions and discuss as a class
- How did the evolution of flying machines change human societies and culture?
- Who were the early pioneers of aviation?
- What are some breakthroughs happening with flight today?
- When and where did the first human powered flights happen?
- How has technology changed flying over the years? How has flying changed technology?
Task
Tell students to use timetoast and the Internet resources listed to create a ten (or more) step online timeline that shows a sequence of steps along the path to flight. Exact dates of events are important. The timeline should focus on short text entries that explain key moments along the way. For each step, an illustration or picture should be included that helps to explain how this step fits into the larger story. Students will share the link to their timelines with the teacher and other members of the class. An optional extension can ask students to evaluate two or more timelines of peers using a rubric and submitting a discussion post or reflective journal entry of about 250 words.
Internet resources:
TimeToast
View as a class: