Evolution and Tiktaalik

This class was centered around introducing evolution and discussing Ch. 1 & 2 of "Your Inner Fish". We began class by pulling out our whiteboards and drawing a picture of how the fossil might have looked right before it was discovered by the scientists. We also began talking about transition fossils and their importance when documenting ancient species. One of these transition fossils included Tiktaalik.

We were then actually lucky enough to go see a model of the fossil in our own museum. We discussed how the evolution occurred and why those mutations might have happened. We also connected this to our bio class and the differences in height of people. One day, in thousands of years, either being short or tall might be a genetic advantage. This would cause the other gene to eventually die out.

After this we returned to class and took a quiz on Tikataalik and how he evolved.