Anyway, now we are moving on to Phylum Chordata, which includes the vertebrates. I put together a dichotomous key of the chordates using flowchart.com. I originally intended to include all of the groups I want the students to learn, but I realized that was a bit much to fit into one dichotomous key. I will make separate keys for distinguishing subgroups of reptiles, birds, and mammals later.
I'm thinking in class that I will have the students develop their own dichotomous keys, probably for different groups. I tried to make this dichotomous key follow actual evolutionary history as best I could, although dichotomous keys don't necessarily have to do so. We can cmpare the keys the students create in class to actual phylogenetic history.
I subdivided the ray-finned fish into the chondrosteons and the teleosts, because I want to make sure the students understand the difference between chondrichthyeans (e.g. sharks) and chondrosteons (e.g. sturgeons). They're both cartilagenous fish, but they have different origins.
I do notice some shifting from the flowchart you make and what actually gets saved. The arrow connecting "cartilagenous skeleton?" to "chondrosteons" is displaced in this image from where I placed it before saving and exporting the file.
Very nice Michael. The work you posted looks a little complex though your video made it much easier to understand the tool. You have a really great voice for podcasts!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michelle! I've never thought of myself as having any voice talent, so I appreciate that!
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