If you think “it’s not the same”, don’t be too sure. There is a genius mathematician, John Horton Conway, who is famous for games, especially for games that have simple rules but which have surprising results. As a practicing scientist, I do a lot of science outreach in the schools and this year my wife asked me to come down to her school to help a couple of her colleagues who were looking for assistance teaching the subject to their students. Thanks for the simplification of what is a complex topic. Eventually every class has to deal with the common ancestor problem. Note that it is NOT “the best ones win”; whatever ‘best’ means, it is not directly involved. Change ). I recall thinking that as I was told this exact line as a kid, and I’m not a believer. We all agreed that this was likely not the case. That is a good thing in my books. The big ideas in Seventh Grade Science include exploring the sciences within the framework of the following topics: “Cells and Heredity” (structure and … People learn in a variety … When I was in high school we were taught the DNA was like a recipe book. I read this article where they did a study on students 10-12 years old and 89% of them said they knew what DNA was and 60% said they what genes are, but only 6% knew DNA and genes are related. The book is mostly about heredity, and raises many modern issues which a 7th grader would be interested in. Evolutionary biology, the evidence for evolution. ( Log Out /  Answer, make it a religious prohibition for their own good. Does this, therefore mean that evolution contradicts religious teaching? I have brothers and they have kids. Follow the recipe right and you make a living creature. New BC curriculum: Science K-7 Big Ideas and Content Compiled by Ingrid Sulston ingridscience.ca Sept 1st 2016 Grade Biology Chemistry Physics Earth/Space Science K Plants and animals features, basic needs, adaptations. In addition to these three principles, this document I ask the students to identify the dogs they have and then go from there. An individual sees something; makes a hypothesis; collects data against which to test the hypothesis; and revises or discards the hypothesis based on the information collected. The BC Curriculum Guide breaks down the topic into three areas: The problem is that these are not intuitive divisions so I will give some simple ideas about important topics you may wish to cover. A Common Ancestor – No we didn’t evolve from apes, think more like long-lost cousins. It might be 15 steps later before you discover that the error (a mutation) means another brick can’t be placed where it is supposed to go. Evolution thus is separate from creation. A “day” in Genesis could mean anything from a solar day to a billion years and as such evolution doesn’t have to contradict your students’ religious heritage. It comes with multiple little books and multiple little bags of parts. My first impression is that this may be more about teaching dogma than teaching the process of science. IXL brings 7th grade science to life! You simply cannot square the circle of literal biblical (koranic, etc) belief and evolution. Maybe your saucer unit won’t fit on the top and you have to move it. As any Grade 7 teacher (or Grade 6 if you are doing A/B Year Schedules) knows, the new BC curriculum has made the topic of Evolution one of the “Big Ideas” for Grade 7 Science. What my kids do love is dogs and dogs are a great way to introduce the topic of adaptive radiation. My kids therefore have cousins. Using the books you assemble the parts. ( Log Out /  If they cannot understand it, then what they learn is dogma. People learn in a variety of ways and at different rates. ConnectSchool Science 10 digital resource. I explained that when the first wolves decided that being friends with humans was a better way to get a meal than trying to eat humans they looked nothing like the dogs of today. In this post I would like to share some ideas I have gleaned on how to make this challenging topic understandable for elementary-aged kids and to avoid/side-step some of the landmines associated with teaching this topic. Build on what you have. It is effectively telling some students that their priest/rabbi/imam is lying to them — and that is a place you do not want to go. Net gain. It is important to point out that Darwin’s book was titled “On the Origin of Species”, a title that does not mention “Creation”(of life). Applications of Physics 11 and 12 (2007) (PDF) Biology 11 and 12 (2006) (PDF) Chemistry 11 and 12 (2006) (PDF) Earth Science 11 and Geology 12 (2006) (PDF) Physics 11 and 12 (2006) (PDF) Science and Technology 11 (2008) (PDF) Science Grade 10 (2008) (PDF) Sustainable Resources 11 and 12 (2008) (PDF) The change may be good or bad but it is a change. It is important to point out that at this current place in time, science doesn’t have all the answers. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Just give the evidence that we have and let them decide for themselves. https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/7 Fascinating and quite incredible! The other side of the coin can also be interesting for kids. Learning is both an individual and a group process. Ces résultats d’apprentissage prescrits et ces indicateurs de réussite, groupés par matière et par année, proviennent de chaque programme d’études et sont donc exactement les mêmes que ceux que l’on trouve dans les versions complètes des programmes d’études. Simple language and limited understanding of the world explains a lot of religious teachings. So you end up with Reproduction (make more of what you have), Variation and Mutation (look for improvements), Selection (the ones that fit the environment thrive, the ones which don’t don’t). Try variations, big or small. “As a first step it is important to point out that everyone has their own way to look at the world and no one way is necessarily better than another.” You can say that, but all sides will think their way is better. Darwin has his eureka moment by looking at finches in the Galapagos and since that time science teachers have used that model to teach their students, to great boredom. As I scientist I was taught the scientific method. There is a rule missing. Because of its success it was able to reproduce and now kitchens everywhere have penicillin producing mold ready to eat old, stale bread. There is also another way to study evolution, one which should not offend anyone. Given our school (we live in a very religious community) and the fact that last night was meet the teacher, I expected my wife to relay some parental feedback from the classes I visited, but I have yet to get any. The process is iterative. Motion of objects depending on Evolution is all around us, and even Intelligent Design. Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy | Accessibility, Daily Physical Activity / Activité Physique Quotidienne, Health and Career Education / Éducation à la santé et à la carrière, International Languages / Langues internationales, Draft Curriculum: Public Review & Feedback. I point out how that throwing back the little ones means that the little ones may actually be fitter in that case. 7th Grade Science Worksheets and Study Guides. Science / Sciences; Social Studies / Sciences humaines Workplace Program Guides; Curriculum Packages by Grade; Catalogue of Learning Resources; Prescribed Learning Outcomes. It you are unlucky your Super-Star Destroyer loses its sensor array and the Millennium Falcon sneaks up behind it and blows it up. Integrated Primary Science units for K-3 Think of DNA as the instruction booklets that come with a set of LEGO and the bricks as the proteins etc.. that make up a cell/body. Darwin himself is interesting, being religious, and struggling with intelligent design and believing ‘the strict and literal truth of every word of the bible”, and he waited about 20 years to publish his findings, only doing so because Wallace was just about to publish the same idea. Just looking at evolution, is this a topic that 7th graders are going to be able to understand? Simple. Learn how your comment data is processed. If the people don’t buy it, that design goes extinct, maybe even the whole line goes extinct. Moving downwards we come to recognize that we are all related but may not be descended from each other. I then provided some typical traits we have bred for: protection – mastiffs; ability to catch vermin – terriers; ability to fetch downed wild fowl – retrievers etc.. Search BC's Course Curriculum. Anyway, I feel that we have to be careful what we gloss over. The evolution of life based on genes and DNA is super important, but perhaps learning about evolution in general (as it applies to things, ideas, anything) is a better starting point because it is neutral and avoids the trap of an authority proclaiming “the answer” and shutting off further investigation. And sometimes something randomly goes wrong. In this scenario the weak are killed and the strong get away to have kids. Speciation is rather different and has nothing to do with the beginnings of life itself. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Fitter doesn’t always have to be bigger just more likely to make it to the next generation. Given your time availability you can then segue over to the idea of antibiotic resistance as that goes back to the idea of survival needs and the need to adapt to survive. I was brought up in the Catholic tradition and in the Catholic tradition the original bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek with the Genesis story written in ancient Aramaic. Ruminants like goats eat stuff we can’t and turn it into meat and milk that we can. Darwin didn’t invent evolution (that goes back thousands of years), but it was unknown how it worked (lots of bad theories), and Darwin didn’t get it all right either. The development of this IRP has been guided by the principles of learning: Learning requires the active participation of the student. It’s a fascinating history, and the book “The Gene, an Intimate History” is an excellent place to read about it. curriculum for science Kindergarten to grade 7. I use molds because every kid has seen moldy bread and we all know about bacterial infections. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Ancient Aramaic and ancient Hebrew were languages that had limited vocabularies and as such the Genesis story would be similarly limited in how it could explain the origins of humanity. ’Success’ is what sells, popularity, nothing more; such is life. Why not pigs in desert climates? In order to really understand evolution kids need a basic understanding of the concept of DNA. Keeping the example of cars, the engineers might think “we can make the engine more powerful”, or “this kind of brake works better”, or “we need more cup holders”, or “let’s make an Edsel”. ( Log Out /  Since my son is a LEGO fan I use a Super-Star Destroyer as an example. Everyone can understand the “Darwin Award”, even if they don’t agree with Darwin. I’d strongly advise against this route for any teacher. Comox Valley Science resources organized by Big Ideas. Now I apologize in that I tried to fit a lot into a single post and so a lot of detail is missing. Science has done enough work to demonstrate that evolution happens and we even understand, to a great extent, how it happens. I am making a unit for the new grade 7 curriculum on evolution and I am having a hard time with not introducing DNA at all without the risk of feeding misconceptions of the mechanisms of natural selection, as that is how they could grasp the random element. Being a Chemist myself, but with an engineering workplace background, I have been enjoying your dam site posts as well. Most kids have seen documentaries where the pack of  wolves/lions stalk a herd of prey animals, identify the weakest member of the herd and attack it.