On 1/04/09, Cullen wrote:
> I'm looking to spend 1-2 weeks introducing Darwin and
> evolution to my fifth graders. I'm looking for something
> that has lots of things I can print out... the science book
> doesn't have anything on it (go figure) and it's difficult
> to find reading material about this at the fifth grade
> level.
>
> Any suggestions? Ideally I'd love to just buy one of those
> $13 reproducible books with the homework and passages ready
> to copy. I can find them on any other science topic in the
> world for any grade level but this.

5th grade is very young; we do this unit at the end of 7th
grade. What are your exact objectives for this unit on this
level? I am afraid most would be over their heads
(chromosomes? genes?)

(Our own textbook chapter is very boring and confusing. It
seems to concentrate on the fact that there is significant
diversity in each population, and from there it goes to the
blah-blah-blah-land without any conclusion.)

I think that the most important conclusion that students
should reach from this unit is that chance is most
important in evolution and that it happens randomly. It
works like a criterion-referenced test, letting into the
next generation only those who passed the evolution game,
and the rules for playing the game change randomly in each
generation ("in this round we will pass only the individual
antelopes with tails 3 inches or shorter").

One anecdote I found about Darwin is that he did not label
his finch specimens with the name of the island where he
collected them, so people had to go to Galapagos again to
check each species. (I use that as a reminder for them to
take complete notes).

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