Pseudozoids

This article explains how using pseudozo¬ids (false animals) in a classification activity is good because it can eliminate any prior knowledge about organisms and their similarities and diff... See More

This article explains how using pseudozo¬ids (false animals) in a classification activity is good because it can eliminate any prior knowledge about organisms and their similarities and differences. Interestingly research shows that using a dichotomous key can reinforces prior knowledge about similarities and differences of an organism. This author chooses to use the ‘Pokemon alphabet’ to describe several organisms. The alphabet, the classification and the worksheet are all provided in this article. This is a unique approach to teaching classification and phylogeny that would be fun for middle school students.

Pokemoning Our Way Through Classification

This article shows how to introduce middle school students to classification using pseudozoids (false animals). The author starts out by giving students a 20-question pretest to measure pri... See More

This article shows how to introduce middle school students to classification using pseudozoids (false animals). The author starts out by giving students a 20-question pretest to measure prior knowledge (available online). Days 2 and 3 consist of vocabulary familiarity, exploration of ways to sort and classify, and an introduction to dichotomous keys. On days 4 and 5 students begin working with the Unown (from Pokemon). They develop their own dichotomous keys and identify Unown species by their assigned genus and species names. The author stated that students understood binomial nomenclature, could classify organisms into groups based on structural similarities, could use a dichotomous key to identify an unknown organism, understood an evolutionary tree, and learned several levels of taxonomy. By using Pokemon phylogeny, the author provides an effective, fun way to approach this challenging biological concept.