Quantitative thinking required to classify organisms : what we can do without "evolution"

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  • 生物の分類に必要な数量的思考 : 進化を学ぶ前にできること

Abstract

Starting from the question of whether it is possible or appropriate for seventh grade students to discuss animal "classification" without considering evolution, I report on a series of lessons designed to help students grasp animal characters quantitatively and to recognize the hierarchy of classification. First, students created a matrix quantifying the similarities and differences between vertebrate taxa in terms of habitat, reproductive mode, and respiration. Based on the matrix, students drew a simple phylogenetic tree using UPGMA, a method for constructing phylogenetic trees that can be calculated manually. This approach enabled students to recognize the hierarchy of classification and the existence of intermediate taxa, and provided the basis for considering biological phylogeny from an evolutionary perspective in their subsequent studies. Although various constratins prevented the students from studying with evolution in the seventh grade of lower secondary school, I concluded that it was necessary and useful for students to learn the quantitative treatment of biological characteristics in order to understand the diversity of life in the world in a scientific way.

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