Guess Who Came To Dinner! (An Evolution Skit)

This project is adapted from original postings in the AP Biology ETS list by Lori Gironda and Kim Foglia.

Read Chapters 22-26 in Campbell or other scholarly source on evolution. Using that information, and any other information you may gather from lecture, the Internet, or other sources, complete the following assignment. The grade you will receive on this assignment will depend upon how closely you follow instructions and how many of the topics you address carefully. You and your family are sitting down to Sunday dinner with your good friend, Charles Darwin, when, all of a sudden, the doorbell rings. Charles Lyell, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Ernst Mayr, Thomas Malthus, Gregor Mendel, Godfrey Hardy, Wilhelm Weinberg, Alexander Oparin, Stanley Miller, Harold Urey and Stephen Jay Gould arrive at your door and ask to come in and join you.But you only have limited seating, so you choose only 7 additional guests. The rest are invited back next week.Amidst the fun and festivities, a heated debate about evolution ensues. Topics come up, such as:

•natural selection

•geology: paleontology, gradualism, and uniformitarianism

•the fossil record

•the place of "man" in the universe

•the origin of new species

•punctuated equilibrium

•genetics

•heterotroph hypothesis

Theories (as well as, maybe, a few punches) are flying left and right. Lucky for you, you have your tape recorder close at hand, because your Biology teacher would never believe this in a million years!

[Procedure] 1. Create a seating chart for the table, including you and your family members. Add a "cast of characters" section in which you very briefly summarize the important theory or contribution of each of the guests to the development of evolutionary theory as well as the years in which the individual lived.

2. Write an account of the dinner in the form of a skit or play, which you describe conversation around the table, between people sitting next to each, and across from each other Be sure to have each character, as well as your family members, contribute to the conversation. Feel free to add humor! The paper must be typed and spell checked and the equivalent of 4-6 pages in length minimum, size 12 times new roman font. (but you can go longer, if you are having fun).

3. Towards the end of dinner, there’s a knock at the door. You answer and in barges an uninvited, and very unexpected, guest (someone from any time in history, including the present). Who is this guest? And what jaw-dropping pronouncement do they make to the dinner party?

Rubric

Requirement / Points
Skit involves six additional invited guests with humor and scientific accuracy / / 55
Skit involves both members of the group with humor and scientific accuracy / / 20
Skit involves a surprise guest in the evolution discussion and includes humor and accuracy / / 10
Created a seating chart with members listed in seating order along with their time frame and brief description of the scientists contributions / / 5
Paper must be typed and the equivalent of 4-6 pages in length minimum (single spaced if written in play/ skit format), size 12 times new roman font / / 5
Correct spelling (Fewer than 5 total errors, neatness / / 5