Bronxville Science Department: AP Biology Students' Evolutionary Adaptation Projects

AP Biology students presented their third quarter projects, in which each student chose an animal from a list an were to produce a "museum quality" poster that identified the animal's taxonomical classification. They were also to examine the behavioral, structural and biochemical adaptations that their animal had developed over the course of their biological history. See the "project" handout that follows for details of the assignment.

Third Quarter First Project Newsletter 2014 by Charles Ippolito

In the first half of the class on Thursday, half the class stood by their posters, while the other half of the class viewed the posters and listened to the poster author's explanations of the information on the poster. In the second half of the class the students switched places/roles.

Lilia chose to become an expert on the koala bear.

Nicole was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the bottlenose dolphin.

Briana was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the boa constrictor.

William was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the ostrich.

Sabine was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the hippopotamus.

James was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the timber wolf. What was most impressive was his use of a pastel he had drawn of the face of a wolf in one of his art classes last year.

Matt was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the emperor penquin.

Elise used a windows tablet to illustrate the sea otter's taxonomy and adaptations.

Blake was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the walrus.

Paul was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the common skunk.

Jesse was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the seal.

Christian explains what he has learned about the evolution and taxonomy of the hippopotamus.

Fiona was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the duck-billed platypus.

Morgan was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the lion.

Andrew was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the sloth.

Caroline was our expert regarding the evolution and taxonomy of the komodo dragon. It was really depressing when none of the class remembered the important role this animal played in the movie "The Freshman", which followed the travails of an NYU student (Matthew Broderick) working for a Godfatherish conman (Marlon Brando) and his chef (Maximilian Schell)!