Teaching Evolutionary Pathways with Imaginary Animals

 

Richard Miller

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 1997, Volume 18

Abstract

The best visual icon for teaching evolution is the tree diagram. The branching tree, starting with a single common ancestor, illustrates both the diversity of living things and their fundamental unity. The goal of this exercise is to better understand the meaning of evolutionary trees and the problems biologists have in constructing them. We use imaginary animals developed by Joseph H. Camin according to rules of relationship known only to him. The pictures of 29 “caminalcules” are copied and cut out so that each pair of students has 29 organisms to work with on separate small pieces of paper. Students are instructed to put the “caminalcules” into an evolutionary tree, assuming that each one represents a different species and that none are extinct. The work is done on a large sheet of paper so that the branches of the tree can be drawn in to connect all the organisms.

Keywords:  phylogenetic relationships

Boston University (1996)