UC Berkeley
Grade Level(s):
- 9-12
Source:
- ENSI
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Three to four class periods
Overview
Students build and evolve and modify paper-and-straw "birds" to simulate natural selection acting on random mutations.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
- [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] There is a fit between organisms and their environments, though not always a perfect fit. (LS4.C)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Evolution results from selection acting upon genetic variation within a population. (LS4.B)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Natural selection acts on the variation that exists in a population. (LS4.B, LS4.C)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Mutations are random.
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Organisms cannot intentionally produce adaptive mutations in response to environmental influences.
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Inherited characteristics affect the likelihood of an organism's survival and reproduction. (LS4.B, LS4.C)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Traits that confer an advantage may persist in the population and are called adaptations. (LS4.B, LS4.C)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Over time, the proportion of individuals with advantageous characteristics may increase due to their likelihood of surviving and reproducing. (LS4.B, LS4.C)
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Depending on environmental conditions, inherited characteristics may be advantageous, neutral, or detrimental.
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Random factors can affect the survival of individuals and of populations.
- [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Speciation is the splitting of one ancestral lineage into two or more descendant lineages.
- Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.B: Natural Selection
- Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.C: Adaptation
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