Adaptations and Context

Adaptation is traditionally taught under the banner that an organism is perfectly adapted to its status quo conditions. While true on an existential level, idioms like this lend themselves to common misconceptions about abiotic and biotic factors that drive those adaptations. In this 2-day professional development course designed for teachers of grades 6-12, participants will deep dive into context as it relates to a biological organism.

Through targeted observation and secondary research, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the abiotic, biotic, and contextual factors of a given environment.
2. Formulate a taxonomy of common contextual factors that drive adaptation, biosphere-wide.
3. Predict functional and behavioral adaptations expected to be observed throughout and across Earth’s biomes and biological taxonomies.
4. Better understand adaptation.
5. Explore and apply teaching strategies that help students understand habitats, niches, ecosystem dynamics, and the importance of context to biology at-large.
6. Learn to utilize the Zoo’s culturally-rich and biodiverse exhibits as a study site for investigations.

Session One:  April 11, 2020, 8:00am - 4:00pm

Session Two:  April 18, 2020, 8:00am - 4:00pm

Instructor:  David Zaitz

Eligible for 15 CTLE hours and 1 P-Credit

In order to receive P-Credits, you must also register with ASPDP.  There is an additional $45 fee from ASPDP for this course.

Click here for course syllabus.