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I am a new biology teacher trying to plan for the upcoming school year. I find that the NGSS do not cover taxonomy/classification of animals, and I was wondering how/where you are incorporating this content into your year? Maybe you are not including this at all, and if that is the case what is your reasoning?
Thank you!
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Hi Alison,
You are correct in noticing that taxonomy and classification are not directly covered in the NGSS. However, remember that a scientific name and an organism's classification is a hypothesis showing common ancestry and the phylogeny of a living thing. Therefore, I inadvertently teach taxonomy when I teach LS4A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity.
The Learning Center actually has several great resources that can help you teach this standard. I put together a collection of them for my own use and I've attached it here in the hopes that it will help you in understanding how taxonomy and phylogeny should be taught in concert.
To truly understand how I teach LS4A, it might be better to show some lessons in action. I have sample of my phylogeny and taxonomy unit on the Better Lesson website. You need to have an account, but it is free. You can check it out here. If you have any other questions, you are welcome to continue the conversation here or you can private message me.
Have a great school year!
Taxonomy and Phylogeny Collection
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Hello! I know that within the Ecology section there is a portion on Biodiversity and Human interaction with Biodiversity. By the end of the 8th grade students should able to explain that organism have been classified by scientists. I am thinking that right before or at the beginning of an ecology unit, starting off with Biodiversity and then going into taxonomy would be a good place. Talking to professionals in natural science museums and classification, taxonomy seems be have some opposition to more scientifically justifiable methods of classification including cladistics. As cladistics appears to be the most widely accepted model of understanding relationships of organisms, teaching this in an Evolution unit becomes ideal. I do not have a classroom as I am a college student of teaching, but I would mainly discuss cladistics during evolution.
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I agree with Matthew. Cladistics is more widely accepted by science professionals for explaining evolutionary relationships. Check out these sites at UC Berkeley http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/teach/index.php and http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/clad/clad5.html. Also, see AMNH's http://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/dinosaurs-activities-and-lesson-plans/understanding-cladistics/
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I think that focusing on cladistics and evolutionary relationships is not only more widely accepted, it is also easier for students to follow in the long run. Straight taxonomy can often come off as random.
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