New species were often difficult for the Corps of Discovery to name and describe. Explain to students that over time, although we have continued to discover new species, naming and documenting them has become easier because of the Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaus. Linnaus developed a method for naming living things called taxonomy. The science of taxonomy groups organisms into five kingdoms: plant, animal, fungi, monera and protist. Linnaus used a method called bi-nomenclature meaning "two names," referring the organism's genus and species. This science was used by the members of the Corps of Discovery, particularly Lewis (i.e. he give the prairie dog the name Cynomys ludovicianus). Give students several specific examples of how this science is still used today.
Watch “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corp of Discovery” available at Amazon. Once viewing is complete, students should complete their project according to the steps described on the Student Activity Sheet. Be sure to review these steps before students begin researching and creating their presentations.
Give students time to create their presentations and prepare to share them.
Naming New Species Student Activity Sheet
Directions: As you view the film, “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery,” record all of the plants and animals that are specifically shown or mentioned in the film. Be sure to record each on in the proper column—Plant or Animal.
Next, plan your multimedia presentation (using software such as Power Point) by answering the following questions:
1. Which kingdom will your presentation focus on: Plants or Animals (circle one)
2. Now choose what you think are the three most interesting plants or animals from your list. Be sure if you chose to focus on plants, you choose only plants and if you plan to focus on animals, you choose only animals. List the three you will focus on.
3. Using Internet resources, gather the following information for each organism and record it on a separate sheet of paper.
--scientific name for the organism
--habitat where it lives or area where it grows best
--what it eats or the type of soil and amount of moisture it needs to thrive
--predators that feed on it or cause damage to it
--any other interesting information you want to share about the organism
4. Find a high quality photo or drawing of the organism. Save this to a disk or folder so it can be imported into the presentation.
5. When research is complete, create the presentation. It must have a minimum of 4 different slides/cards. Each is described below.
Slide/Card 1: Include the name of the presentation, your name, and some type of related picture or graphic
Slides/Cards 2-4: Include the picture of the plant or animal, its scientific name, 3-4 pieces of information about the organism, how the members of the Corps of Discovery interacted with the organism (i.e. did they discover it, suffer because of it, find it interesting, get scared by it, etc.), and the source documentation describing the Internet sources where you found the picture and information.
NOTE: This may be a lot of information to include on each slide/card based of the size of pictures, font, etc. If additional slides are needed for each of the 3 organisms researched, add them as necessary.
6. When your presentation is complete, check for proper spelling and grammar on all slides and practice what you will say when making your oral presentation.
(taken from pbs.org)
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