What was this project about?
To have a better understanding about evolution we used nuts and bolts and other assorted hardware to give us an idea on how things evolve. Our process in the project was simple. First we had to group the hardware into different families in order to see how they evolved. We did so by drawing a cladogram showing how each hardware piece evolved into another. Next we created a story explaining how each piece could have evolved into another.
What is a Cladogram?
A cladogram is a branching treelike diagram used to illustrate evolutionary relationships among organisms. Each node, or point of divergence, has two branching lines of descendance, indicating evolutionary divergence from a common ancestor.
Key Terminology
Mutation- occurs when a DNA gene is damaged or changed in such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene. when each tool changed into the other it was a mutation.
Evolution- Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, often resulting in the development of new species. The tools evolved from one to the other. If they "mated" they would then produce offspring with similar traits.
Speciation- When a new species is created through evolution. Speciation is created through artificial or natural selection. When the line dies then a new species is created through a selection.
Adaptations- Mutations that were beneficial to a species and therefore were spread amongst the population. Adaptions can be beneficial because they can help the organism survive and produce offspring with the same advantageous traits. The nail's adaption was its toughness and could penetrate many materials.
Taxonomy- the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. When creating cladograms we placed organisms into groups based on similar characteristics.
Direct ancestor- an organism that is directly related by heredity. In the cladogram story we related tools based on how how similar their characteristics were.
common ancestor- a group of organisms that share a common descent. We judged each tool based on appearance to judge whether they were related or part of a different family.
This is the cladogram my group created.
Reflection
This project was a little tricky for me and my teammates. We were sort of off to a rocky start when 2 people would work and the other two slack off. My performance in this project was off to a slow start in the beginning of this project but i picked up the pace and did my part in the end. One thing I learned was that our group worked well together. After we found our rhythm no one stood idly, everyone had a job and we all executed it well. What I didn’t like about this project was that we only worked on it once a week instead of just working on it the entire week and getting done. During this project I learned that my cooperative skills pretty good. A skill that I need to work on is my work ethic. Like I said I slacked off during the first week or so but towards the end I contributed a lot to the group. Another thing I learned was that I need to do a better job being a leader. A leader is someone who will rise up to the occasion and take charge. Although we did well on this project we had a few bumps in the road. When we wrote our story, we did not do it correctly and we had to redo it. Another issue we had was when a group member was absent for a couple of days causing the rest of us to do multiple jobs.