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MEMORYANDRETENTIONSTRATEGIESMakingrevisionmorefunandmoreeffective!

Priortotryingoutthe10memoryandretentionstrategiesprovided,readthroughthefollowingabridgedinformationabout…

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Darwin'stheoryofevolutionexplainshowspeciesoflivingthingshavechangedovergeologicaltime.Thetheoryissupportedbyevidencefromfossils,andbytherapidchangesthatcanbeseentooccurinmicroorganismssuchasantibiotic-resistantbacteria.Manyspecieshavebecomeextinctinthepastandtheextinctionofspeciescontinuestohappen.

Darwin's Finches DarwinstudiedthewildlifeontheGalápagosIslands-agroupofislandsontheequatoralmost1,000kilometreswestofEcuador.Henoticedthatthefinches-songbirds-onthedifferentislandstherewerefundamentallysimilartoeach

other,butshowedwidevariationsintheirsize,beaksandclawsfromislandtoisland. For example, their beaks were different depending on the local foodsource. Darwin concluded that, because the islands are so distant from themainland,thefinchesthathadarrivedthereinthepasthadchangedovertime.Darwinstudiedhundredsmoreanimalandplantspecies.Afternearly30yearsofresearch,in1858heproposedhistheoryofevolutionbynaturalselection.Thebasicideabehindthetheoryofevolutionisthatallthedifferentspecieshaveevolvedfromsimplelifeforms.Thesesimplelifeformsfirstdevelopedmorethanthreebillionyearsago-theEarthisabout4.5billionyearsold.

Natural Selection Thetheoryofevolutionstatesthatevolutionhappensbynaturalselection.Herearethekeypoints:

• Individualsinaspeciesshowawiderangeofvariation.• Thisvariationisbecauseofdifferencesingenes.• Individualswithcharacteristicsmostsuitedtotheenvironmentaremore

likelytosurviveandreproduce.

• Thegenesthatallowedtheindividualstobesuccessfularepassedtotheoffspringinthenextgeneration.

• Individualsthatarepoorlyadaptedtotheirenvironmentarelesslikelytosurviveandreproduce.Thismeansthattheirgenesarelesslikelytobepassedtothenextgeneration.

• Givenenoughtime,aspecieswillgraduallyevolve.

The Horse Oneofthefewanimalsforwhichwehaveafairlycompleteevolutionaryrecordis the horse. All the main stages of the evolution of the horse have beenpreserved in fossil form.Over60millionyears, thehorseevolved fromadog-sizedcreature that lived in rainforests intoananimaladapted to livingon theplainsandstandingupto2metreshigh.Intheprocessitsmulti-toedfeet,thatwereadaptedforwalkingacrosstheforestfloor,evolvedintosingle-toedhoovesmoresuitedforrunningoveropencountry.

Evidence for Evolution - Rapid Changes Rapidchangesinspecieshavebeenobserved.Thesesupportthetheoryofevolution.

Peppered Moths

BeforetheindustrialrevolutioninBritain,most peppered moths were of the palevariety. This meant that they werecamouflagedagainst thepalebirch treesthat they rest on. Moths with a mutantblack colouring were easily spotted andeatenbybirds.Thisgavethewhitevarietyanadvantage,andtheyweremore likelytosurvivetoreproduce.

Airborne pollution in industrial areasblackened the birch tree barkwith soot.Thismeant that themutant blackmoths

were now camouflaged, while the white variety became more vulnerable topredators.Thisgavetheblackvarietyanadvantage,andtheyweremorelikelytosurviveandreproduce.Overtime,theblackpepperedmothsbecamefarmorenumerousinurbanareasthanthepalevariety.

Extinction Individualsthatarepoorlyadaptedtotheirenvironmentarelesslikelytosurviveandreproducethanthosethatarewelladapted. Similarly, it is possible that aspeciesthatispoorlyadaptedtoitsenvironmentwillnotsurviveandwillbecomeextinct.Herearesomeofthefactorsthatcancauseaspeciestobecomeextinct:• changestotheenvironment,suchasachangeinclimate• newdiseases• newpredators• newcompetitors

Thefossilrecordshowsthatmanyspecieshavebecomeextinctsincelife on Earth began. Extinction isstill happening and a lot of itoccurs because of humanactivities.Wecompetewithotherliving things for space, food andwater,andweareverysuccessfulpredators. The dodo was a largeflightless bird that lived onMauritius, an island in the IndianOcean. The island wasuninhabitedandthedodohadnonaturalpredators.ThenMauritius

wascolonisedbytheDutch in1638.Dodoswerehuntedfor foodandeasytocatchbecausetheywerenotafraidofpeople.Newcompetitorswerebroughtontotheisland,includingpigs,catsandrats,whichatethedodos'eggsandtheiryoung.Within80years,thedodowasextinct.

MEMORYANDRETENTIONSTRATEGIES

1. METHOD OF LOCI BreaktheNaturalSelectioninformationdownintoavisualtourofyourhome,usingitemsinparticularrooms,andintherequiredorder,tobringaconcept,processorfactualinformationalive.Forexample:

• Iwalkedintothekitchenandsawawonderfulvariationofspices.• Icheckedtheironingbasketformydifferenttypesofjeans(genes).• Intheconservatory,Dadwaslisteningtohisnewspeakers.They’re

moreexpensivethanthelastonesbuttheyshouldlastlongerandthesoundreproductionisgreat.

2. ACRONYM Createanacronymthathelpsyourememberkeyinformationabout

extinction.Forexample:ifyouwanttorecallthefactsrelatingtosurvivalofthefittest,environment,competitors,predators,activityofhumansand

dodo,youcancomeupwiththefollowingacronym:SPACED.

3. SPEAK IT: WRITE IT Readthesectiononfinches.Sayitoutloudthenwriteitdownatleastthreetimes!

4. PLAY IT BACK Recordthefactorsofextinctionontoyourphone.Youcanplaybackusingyourownvoice.Playitthroughyourheadphoneswheneveryoucan.Closeyoureyes,whenappropriate,whenlistening.Thisissaidtoimproveyourretention.Ifyou’repushedfortime,playbackatdoublespeed.

5. BIZARRE VISUALS Presenttheinformationonpepperedmothsbydrawingamemorablevisual.Themorebizarreitis;themorechanceyouhaveofrememberingit!

6. TWEET Summarisealltheinformationinnomorethan140characters-aTweet!

7. JIGSAW Taketheinformation,cutitintopiecesandre-assemblelikeajigsaw.

8. YOU TUBE WatchaYouTubevideoonthetopic-makesurethechannelisreputableandpresentsinformationaccurately.

9. RAP ConverttheinformationaboutDodosintoamemorablerap.

10. FORMULA

BreakdownTheTheoryofEvolutionintoamathematicalformulausingsuchsymbolsas+,-,/,x,arrows,shapes.