Matryoshka Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 So, my biology teacher brother pointed out to me a few years ago that current biology teaching focuses on microbiology, biochemistry and ecology, but not a lot of time is spent on taxonomy/classification. What biology we've done has pretty much lined up with that. But I just had an epiphany... when will they learn taxonomy? On the one hand, maybe it doesn't matter all that much (they've added a couple of domains and three kingdoms since I took biology in high school) - but I loved taxonomy. I was thinking it might be something to tackle as a fun thing to do over a summer. Go over the major kingdoms and phyla and maybe do some dissections. Anyone know of a good resource? Doesn't even have to be a full-on curriculum. I've already got Lyrical Life Science CDs, but not their printed stuff (heck, I just went over there to see if I could see samples of their printed stuff, and there are updates because they've gone and changed around classifications again since they came out with LLS not so very long ago! :lol:). At any rate, I'm not sure that's what I'm looking for. My kids learn well with songs, but they find those particular ones hokey and would probably rebel if I tried to center any serious learning on them. So anything fun enough to do over a summer while still being up-to-date and accurate? Or am I asking for way too much here? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Well, it seems nobody's heard of such a thing. :tongue_smilie: So, I've requested some books from the library that may or may not help me with this project - maybe I'll just have to put together my own unit study! Anyone know of a good place online to get diagrams of various invertebrate orders to label? Or maybe since they're older I should make them draw and label them themselves...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Kalmia will have books for you but she's out to town. I'll email her w/ your question. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Just to keep this up there so maybe someone will see it and have a resource - I looked and looked for something a couple of years ago and came up with zip, zilch, nada... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I've been looking around for a few days on Amazon and our library system. I found this updated resource on Amazon. It's definitely not a curriculum nor is it meant for middle grades :lol: but I find it to be interesting. Apparently there's a coloring book version. I've got an older edition on request at the library. Most other resources I know are botany related since I'm studying horticulture and landscape design. I've used this and this in my grad botany classes. The Botany Coloring Book is a classic reference that I've pulled out for the kids. I don't know how useful it would be from a taxonomic perspective. I've found The Plant Kingdom: a Guide to Plant Classification and Biodiversity by Theresa Greenaway and The Animal Kingdom: a Guide to Vertebrate Classification and Biodiversity by Kathryn Whyman (both books published in 2000) at the library. The amazon links say the books are for ages 4-8---that should be grades 4-8. The first half of the plant book concentrates on 5 phyla: Bryophyta/mosses and liverworts; Sphenophyta/horsetails; Pteridophyta/ferns; Coniferophya; and Anthophyta (aka Angiospermae or flowering plants). I don't have the vertebrate book in hand yet. Thanks for starting the discussion! I've been putting off science planning in favor of reading all my new MCT books but this provided a much-needed kick in the pants :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 I've been looking around for a few days on Amazon and our library system. I found this updated resource on Amazon. It's definitely not a curriculum nor is it meant for middle grades :lol: but I find it to be interesting. Apparently there's a coloring book version. I've got an older edition on request at the library. Heh - that's one of the books I've got coming via ILL, but darn, it's the non-updated version and my library doesn't have the new edition - waah! - and I don't want to spend $60. Interesting aside - Lynn Margulis was my brother's adviser in college. :) Wonder if he's got the latest edition stashed somewhere...? He's off on a summer trip to the Galapagos - have to ask him when he gets back! I've found The Plant Kingdom: a Guide to Plant Classification and Biodiversity by Theresa Greenaway and The Animal Kingdom: a Guide to Vertebrate Classification and Biodiversity by Kathryn Whyman (both books published in 2000) at the library. The amazon links say the books are for ages 4-8---that should be grades 4-8. The first half of the plant book concentrates on 5 phyla: Bryophyta/mosses and liverworts; Sphenophyta/horsetails; Pteridophyta/ferns; Coniferophya; and Anthophyta (aka Angiospermae or flowering plants). I don't have the vertebrate book in hand yet.I saw those but didn't order them because they were only 48pp - I thought they might not have enough depth? I ordered sample copies from two larger series, this one (18 titles) and this one (not sure how many titles, but the library had a few). And also this book looked really interesting, but annoyingly the library doesn't have it. Oh - just found another one, but my library doesn't have it either :glare: - here. It just came out and comes at classification from the genetics angle, which is why it's been changing so much over the past few years. Oh, and this one looks fun for a living book angle - just put it on hold. :) Thanks for starting the discussion! I've been putting off science planning in favor of reading all my new MCT books but this provided a much-needed kick in the pants :DWhat does it say about my ability to procrastinate that I'm having fun planning a science unit for next summer when I still haven't gotten down to the nitty-gritty for this fall? Just found out that one of our science coop member's dh has his degree in Physics - so I'm thinking we need to have him tell us which of the 24 chapters of the Physics book we should focus on ('cause I'm thinking about 18 chapters is a resonable pace, but have no clue which ones to focus on!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Ha, I requested that last one too :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I didn't find much either when I tackled this with a friend. I taught her outlining and taxonomy at the same time. I bought a bunch of bags of candy to teacher her grouping. She had a surprisingly difficult time with this concept! As a college graduate, I was surprised. Yes, she was a special needs student and majored in photography and communications, but still...she passed classes like calculus 2. We had candy spread out on a towel on the floor for over 2 weeks :-) She needed to touch and to be able to physically manipulate the items, and even then still struggled to write an outline. Mosses, fungi, and lichen are truly fascinating from a taxonomy perspective. How can organisms from different kingdoms look so similar? I studied lichens this winter with a retired science professor friend, who had never given them as much thought until I became fascinated with them. Years ago when I first tackled taxonomy with my younger son I remember being told how unimportant it was. Those are the same people who say cursive and math facts are not important anymore, now that we have computers. I don't listen! It's not about "correctly" identifying the organism, but instead learning to group and compare and contrast by a standard. Pick a standard, learn it, and don't obsess over whether it is the "right" one. And have fun. I love taxonomy :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cschnee Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Here is a webquest on taxonomy. Looks like they focus on the history and then work on insect classification. http://www.schools.manatee.k12.fl.us/072JOCONNOR/zoology/taxonomy_webquest.html#Process Here is another http://www.personal.psu.edu/jxz8/Student_Webquests/Mulfinger/ED450am/questam2/index.htm this is actually the same as above but in a nicer format http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=89895 If you google taxonomy webquest, you'll find others. I use webquests quite often! here's another I find when I googled classification webquest https://mail.nvnet.org/~muellerk/Classification%20WebQuest.htm this is for grade 3 http://wilsonmhes.net/animal_classification_webquest.htm This one looks good http://www.williamsclass.com/SixthScienceWork/Classification/ClassificationWebquest.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 This is more upper elementary, but someone might like it Strauss, Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth The author describes each of the five kingdoms in a two page spread; then goes into more detail about the animal kingdom, with a two page spread for fish, birds, etc. One thing I like is that each section has a picture of a tree, with a section of the tree highlighted to show how many species each group has compared to all species of living things. I highly recommend this book -- also One Well, by the same author. Heinemann has a very nice series, Classifying Living Things. I found them very helpful -- upper elementary, but good for a bit older too, IMO. For plant taxonomy, two authors that I would recommend are Lawrence and Radford. Both books are used in colleges, but are not difficult to understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 This is more upper elementary, but someone might like itStrauss, Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth The author describes each of the five kingdoms in a two page spread; then goes into more detail about the animal kingdom, with a two page spread for fish, birds, etc. One thing I like is that each section has a picture of a tree, with a section of the tree highlighted to show how many species each group has compared to all species of living things. I highly recommend this book -- also One Well, by the same author. :iagree: I just read this book the other day. I think I might use it as the intro to a classification unit unless I find something better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Tree of Life - We used it as well. I loved the tree diagram. I thought it was a great visual for percentages of each kingdom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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