Activities for teaching about evolution and the nature of. This lab is available for free many places online, i just took bits and pieces of what worked for me and compiled it into a new format. In this fun natural selection activity students will simulate darwins finches and see how survival of the fittest can lead to evolution. This video also uncovers the relationship of natural selection and antibiotic resistance in bacteria and emphasizes. Natural selection is the only mechanism known to cause the evolution of adaptations, so many biologists would simply define an adaptation as a characteristic that has evolved by natural selection.
It uses the video above to engage students and introduce the context of the lesson. Seventh grade lesson natural selection betterlesson. The birds eat during the day and seem to be eating only the diurnal worms. Reviewresearch on adaptations and natural selection.
In your own words, describe how each of the steps of natural selection is modeled in the experiment. Understand that there is natural variation among individuals of all species 2. The word adaptation also refers to the process whereby the members of a population become better suit. Determine the typicalness average of a population 2. Information charles darwin is considered the father of evolutionary theory. Natural selection the process by which individuals that are better adapted to the environment survive and reproduce more successfully than other members of their species these adaptations are incredibly varied, but are caused by nature. Investigating natural selection in this activity, you will be examining how natural selection works in nature, specifically predatorprey relationships. Students apply the criteria from the natural selection checklist to another example.
Natural selection teacher handout the young scientist program. The purpose of the game is to illustrate the basic principles and some of the general effects of evolution by natural selection. Scroll down using the arrow key to read all of the instructions for the game. This activity represents how darwins theory of natural selection works. Natural selection teaching resources the science teacher.
Click the how to play button on the bottom left of the screen. Evolution lesson plans including the theory of natural selection, charles darwin, adaptations, speciation, evidence and classification for high school biology. Patterns can be used to identify cause and effect relationships. Natural selection is one of the main processes by which organisms evolve across time the other is genetic drift. In this simulation, students take on the roles of crablike predators that have variations in the shape of their claws. This teaching activity uses a simple example of ducks crossing the road to challenge students understanding of evolution. Natural selection grade level middle high school duration 60 min rationale this inquirybased learning activity on natural selection will help students establish a basic understanding of natural selection. Ledyard stebbins, a pioneer in the evolution of plants. Evolution by natural selection takes place over many, many generations. The questions in the first section introduce students to the basic process of natural selection, including key concepts and vocabulary. Describe how the population of mice was different at time 3 compared to time 1. Gcse questions to help understand evolution by natural selection. A population of mice lived in a desert with gray sand.
I use his introduction to evolution video in this lesson. The concept of natural selection should, of course, be pursued in many other ways in order to help students understand its centrality to evolutionary theory. Upon conclusion of this activity, revisit the natural selection checklist. They will repeat the activity against a white background and see which color moth will increase in frequency. In this mindson, handson activity, students develop their understanding of natural selection by analyzing specific examples and carrying out a simulation. Then they use the information to fill in the natural selection checklist to determine whether or not the example is indeed the result of natural selection, then report out.
This film describes the work of tony allison, the first researcher to find a connection between the. This activity is at least one additional step removed from the reality of natural selection, but it provides one way to illustrate the mechanism. Reproductive advantage interactive teacher guide pdf. This activity was adapted from an activity by linda kah at the university of tennessee knoxville exercise in natural selection in this exercise you will explore a population of organisms living within an ecosystem, and simulate predatorprey relationships over several generations that act to modify the population.
I start this lesson by showing the students stated clearlys what is natural selection. Go to nowhere to hide to play the online interactive activity about natural selection. Natural selection acts at the level of individuals. Selection of resources for adaptation, evolution and natural selection. Natural selection handson activities for key stage 2 professor dave cavanagh, dr nikki pickup and laura cavanagh, institute for animal health the four activities described involve the participation of all the children in a class and are very much handson, fun activities. This activity explores the connection between malaria and sickle cell anemia one of the bestunderstood examples of natural selection in humans as discussed in the short film the making of the fittest. Lesson plan on evolution and natural selection science education.
Natural selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria. There is incontrovertible evidence for this example of natural. Small groups or individuals complete a short reading and a minor graphing exercise. To help students learn, in a more concrete way, how natural selection operates, i came up with an activity that simulates evolution by natural selection. Second, natural selection is one of the most important concepts in biology, but it is difficult for students to learn. The purpose of this section is to dramatically introduce the topic of natural selection in an engaging format.
Selective breeding notes flipped out science with mrs. These activities begin with a lesson introducing students to natural selection and also include discussions on sexual selection, molecular. Knight attached natural selection application worksheet. This film uses the rock pocket mouse as a living example of darwins process of natural selection. M natural selection chester upland school district. Students represent a population of leopards that have a total of 6 genetic variants among them. Adaptation lesson bundle including stations, cut and paste and task cardsmore great stuff on ecol. Natural selection teach genetics utah university of utah. The activity also introduces students to the work done by charles darwin on his voyage to the galapagos islands, 18311836. In this activity, the students investigate one mechanism for evolution through a simulation that models the principles of. These drawings show how the population changed from time 1 to time 3.
Activity sheets of natural selection evolution bbsrc. Jan 28, 2016 discover natural selection as a mechanism of evolution with the amoeba sisters. Discussion of current happenings involving the concepts of natural selection and evolution will illustrate the importance of darwins. This activity is designed to allow students to demonstrate natural selection by a handson activity. The birds eat during the day and seem to be eating only. I think he does a great job on crafted intriguing videos with dramatic music in a way that makes kids curious. Now click the back button to go back to the game and begin the online interactive. Evolution by natural selection leads to adaptation within a population. Students will be able to explain natural selection as a way for certain individuals to survive and pass on their genetic information. Battle of the beak page 3 teacher handout natural selection battle of beak student prior knowledge students should have the following knowledge prior to completing this activity.
An example is given and then students find adaptations for 6 different animals. The theory of natural selection was first put forward by charles darwin and alfred russel wallace 1858. Natural selection is the only mechanism known to cause the evolution of. One activity is to read for comprehension about genetically modified organisms gmos. The term evolution by natural selection does not refer to individuals changing, only to changes in the frequency of adaptive characteristics in the population as a whole. Natural selection kelly lamey anna wetherholt learning objectives assessment criteria students will identify features of organisms for their adaptive, competitive and survival potential student answers will includebut are not limited to appendages, reproductive rates, camouflage and defensive structures. This activity explores physical and genetic evolutionary changes in rock pocket mouse populations, as discussed in the short film the making of the fittest. Candy dish selection university of california museum of.
Understanding evolution by natural selection the role of mutation. Natural selection activity natural selection game this is a comprehensive, mathbased game of natural selection. Six classroom exercises to teach natural selection to. Pdf six classroom exercises to teach natural selection to. All evidence suggests many students need specialized and timeconsuming instruction to learn natural selection well enough to avoid falling back upon glaringly inaccurate misconceptions. It is recommended for high school biology or advanced middle school. Includes an introductory game which gets pupils thinking about natural selection. Natural selection battle of the beak pearce science. Objectives the objectives of this activity is for you to. Adaptations, evolution and natural selection resources. Beaks, and natural selection pdf bird beak data sheet pdf, 1 per person mutation pdf. For example, for the mice that lived in the beach area with tan sand, none of the mice had a change in the color of their fur. Evolution by means of natural selection recall that in on the origin of species by means of natural selection, charles darwin put forth his idea that evolution proceeded by means of natural selection.
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