One of the interesting things about fishing in tidal waters is that you get to see a lot of things most folks miss. I spend a lot of time under bridges. Today I was under the bridge where Route 109 leads into Cape May.
I stumbled upon a dead deer there, its still furry head turned awkwardly towards its magnificent rib cage. No meat was left.
The huge rib cage dwarfed the rest of the dead creature. Deer have a simple survival strategy--run. They need oxygen, and lots of it.
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I went fishing today. I slaughtered 10 clams, and fed a few fish. I hooked none. The clams were tough to open. When threatened, clams have a simple survival strategy--they, well, clam up.
The only visible living thing I hooked was a chain of whelk eggs--the embryonic whelk oozed onto my hand like the raw eggs they were. Whelks eat clams.
Call it a draw.
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We are starting to use UbD--Understanding by Design--here in Bloomfield. It was developed by Grant Wiggins, and he's made a cottage industry (and a lot of money) out of it. It's useful, but not new.
Part of our task is to develop essential questions. I need to develop a few for evolution.
I considered this one:
Were humans inevitable?
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What is our survival strategy?
In terms of a few generations, our brains are an advantage. In terms of a few generations, our opposable thumbs are an advantage.
Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) have not been around that long, maybe 10,000 generations, not even 200,000 years.
Our intelligence may ultimately be the end of us.
More than a few human cultures, Homo sapiens sapiens cultures, have been sustainable, at least until other Homo sapiens sapiens cultures intervened.
How do we teach this? How do we not?
