Interviews
Rough transcript of an interview. For the big picture, see the Interviews page.
Interview with a Middle School, (formerly High School) Biology Teacher
Q: Could you share your thoughts about the use of a tree of life website in 7th grade?
A: Start from Human - from "me" - from "where do I fit on the tree?" Then back up so kids can see - where do I fit among mammals? among vertebrates? among Animals? Among Eukaryotes? and on the whole tree?
The kids do web searches to find out more about the geckos, snakes, and other animals kept in the lab. They need species-pedia information websites for this searching. They search using common names.
Q: Could you share your thoughts about the use of a tree of life website in high school?
A: In AP biology, ask Mr. C. - he's teaching that now. But I guess that high school students would be served by seeing how various themes are located on the tree, such as energy-generation, gut style, body symmetry...and being able to focus on the distribution of these features across the tree, as the students study them.