WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

Science 10 Quarter 3, Week 5

Evidence for Evolution

Name: Section:

Learning Competency:
Explain how fossil records, comparative anatomy, and genetic information provide
evidence for evolution. (S10LT-IIIf-39)

Specific Objectives:
1. Describe how fossil records provide evidence for evolution.
2. Distinguish homologous structure from analogous structure.
3. Explain how embryotic development provide evidence for evolution.
4. Describe how genetic information provide evidence for evolution.

Time Allotment: 4 hours

Key Concepts:
Evolution – is the process of gradual change that takes place over several generations, during
which certain species of animals, plants or insects gradually change some of their physical
characteristics.

Evidence that proves evolution are categorized into two:

1. Physical evidence

a. Fossils. Fossils are preserved

remains of markings left by
organisms that lived in the past.
Most fossils are found in
sedimentary rocks.
(Campbel,2004)

Figure 1. Fossils as Evidence for Evolution.

Source: https://www.expii.com/t/fossils-evidence-of-
evolution-overview-examples-10255

b. Comparative Anatomy and Embryology. Another evidence for evolution is the

comparative anatomy and embryology of living organisms. Comparative anatomy is the
study of the similarities and differences in organisms’ structures (body parts).

Author: Christina T. Tadle 1

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
i. Homologous Structures.
Homologous structures are
similarities in structure or body
parts throughout a group
of closely related species.
Example: The similar
bone patterns in bat’s
wings, whale’s flippers, and
cat’s legs and human’s
hands support their descent
from a common
mammalian ancestor.

ii. Analogous structures

Analogous structures are
similarities in structure or body
parts of some organisms but are
not related to each other. They
develop these similarities because
they lived in the same
environments and experienced
similar selective pressures.
Example: Shark( fish), Penguin
(bird) and Dolphin(mammal) do
not share a recent common
ancestor, but they have
similar appendages
that evolved to help them survive
in an aquatic environment.

iii. Embryology
It is a branch of comparative
anatomy that studies the growth
before birth or hatching of
vertebrate animals.
Comparative embryology
Closely related organisms have
similar embryological development.
Structures appear in the
embryonic stages that serve no
purpose and are not present in
adult.
Example: Vertebrate embryos
 All have gills which eventually
become ear canal
 All have tails/tailbones
 All pass stages which represent
larval fish

Author: Christina T. Tadle 2

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
 2. Biological Evidence
a. Molecular biology
Like structural homologies, similarities may reflect shared evolutionary ancestry
between biological molecules. At cellular level, all living organisms have:
 The same genetic material (DNA)
 The same, or highly similar, genetic codes
 The same basic process of gene expression (transcription and translation)
 The same molecular building blocks, such as amino acids
These common characteristics mean that all living things are derived from a
common ancestor, and that this ancestor had DNA as its genetic material, used the
genetic code, and transcribed and translated its genes.
Scientists study DNA nucleotides and protein amino acid sequences from various
organisms. Closely related species share higher percentage of sequences than
species that are distantly related. It means that a related species has almost
identical amino acid sequences than those that are not related.

Activity 1. The Transformation

Objective: Describe how fossil records provide evidence for evolution.

What you need: pen and paper
What to do: 1. Examine the image below and respond to the following questions. Write your
answer on a separate sheet of paper.
2. Figure 5 shows an image of the series of skulls and forefoot of organisms believed
to be the ancestors of a horse. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

Author: Christina T. Tadle 3

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
Guide Questions:
1. What are the two characteristics of each skull that could contribute to the inference that these
are all related species?
a.
b.
2. What is the greatest change that happened in the anatomy of the skull from the dawn horse to
the modern horse?
a.
3. What is the significant difference that occurred in forefoot anatomy from the dawn horse to
the modern horse?
a.

Activity 2. Analogous Vs. Homologous

Objectives: Distinguish homologous structure from analogous structure.

What you need: Pen and paper
What to do: Study the pair of structures below. On your answer sheet, write the word HOMO if
the structures are homologous and the word ANA if it is analogous. Provide a one
sentence explanation about your answer. Refer to the rubric below for your score.
Structure Classification
Example: ANA
Why? Frog and Human does
evolve in different organisms.
Humans are mammals, while
Human Arm Frog feet frogs are amphibians
a.
Why?

Dolphin’s Flipper Penguin’s wing

b.
Why?

Horse’s Leg Lion’s Leg

c.
Why?

Human’s arm Whale’s flipper

d.
Why?

Bat’s wing Bird’s wing

Author: Christina T. Tadle 4
School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
 Scoring Rubric

Points Indicators
4 points Discussion is well organized and demonstrated all relevant ideas.
3 points Discussion is well organized and demonstrated some relevant ideas.
2 points Discussion is well organized and demonstrated few relevant ideas
1 point Discussion is not organized and demonstrated irrelevant ideas.

Activity 3. Whose Embryo is This?

Objective: Explain how embryotic development provides clues for evolution.

What you need: Pen, paper, and coloring materials (crayons, coloring pencils or pens)
What to do:
1. Study and compare the stages of embryotic development of different organism.
2. Color the vertical arrow representing phylogeny gray. Color the name Fertilized
Egg, starting with salamander and going up to human, and the illustrated eggs.
Then color the horizontal arrow, indicating ontogeny gray, at the bottom of the
plate.
3. Continue coloring the forms (late cleavage) through (adult/offspring) and their
titles, left to right, beginning each stage at the bottom of the plate and working up.
Use different colors of your choice for the different stages.

Author: Christina T. Tadle 5

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
Guide Questions:
1. Describe the similarities found among organisms during the body segment stage.

2. In the late fetal stage, the fetus of human and monkey is almost identical. However, there is a
slight difference between the two fetuses. Can you tell their differences?

3. Can comparative embryology provide evidence that organisms are related to each other? How?
Explain your answer in two sentences. (Refer to the scoring rubric on page 5 for your score.)

Activity 4. Compare Me Not!

Objective: Describe how genetic information provide evidence for evolution.

Materials: paper, coloring materials, pen.
What to do: 1. Study the table below.
2. Plot the information on the table in a bar graph.
To represent each pairing of organisms, use various colors.

Author: Christina T. Tadle 6

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
 Number of Amino Acid Difference from Human
45

No. of Amino Acids Difference

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Organisms

Guide Questions:
1. Which organism is most related to human?
Which organism is least related to human?
2. By looking at the graph, which set of organisms are related?
a. , ,
b. , ,
3. Do you think the ancestry of chimpanzees, rhesus monkey and humans are common?
Explain your answer in two sentences only. (Refer to scoring rubric on page 5.)

Reflection:
Among the evidence of evolution presented, which is the most convincing? Why? Limit
your explanation to three sentences only.

Scoring Rubrics in Rating Reflection

Score Indicators
5 The discussion is scientifically consistent with strong central idea related to
the topic and provides compelling support to the topic.
4 The discussion is scientifically consistent with strong central idea related to
the topic and provides sensible support to the topic.
3 The discussion is scientifically consistent with a central idea related to the
topic and provide few supports to the topic.
2 The discussion is less scientifically consistent with idea related to the topic.
1 The discussion is not scientifically consistent and does not provide support
related to the topic.

Author: Christina T. Tadle 7

School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]
Author: Christina T. Tadle 8
School/Station: Bayugan 3 National High School
Division: Agusan del Sur
E-mail address: [email protected]