Understanding Evolution

Your one-stop source for information on evolution

Understanding Evolution

Teaching Resources

Home → Teach Evolution → Lessons and Teaching Tools → Teaching Resources Database → Problem-based discussion: Natural selection in Darwin’s finches

Problem-based discussion: Natural selection in Darwin’s finches

Grade Level(s):

  • 13-16

Source:

  • UC Museum of Paleontology

Resource type:

  • Slide set

Time: 5-20 minutes

Overview

This set of two PowerPoint slides featuring questions for problem-based discussion (i.e., open-ended questions that engage students with each other and with course material) can be easily incorporated into lectures on natural selection.

Go to this resource »

«Back to results

  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolution can sometimes be directly observed.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolution occurs through multiple mechanisms.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolution results from natural selection acting upon genetic variation within a population.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Evolution results from genetic drift acting upon genetic variation within a population.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection and genetic drift act on the variation that exists in a population.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Variation of a character within a population may be discrete or continuous.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Inherited characteristics affect the likelihood of an organism's survival and reproduction.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Over time, the proportion of individuals with advantageous traits may increase (and the proportion with disadvantageous traits may decrease) due to their chances of surviving and reproducing.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Traits that confer an advantage may persist in the population and are called adaptations.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] The number of offspring that survive to reproduce successfully is limited by environmental factors.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection can act on the variation in a population in different ways.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 13-16] Natural selection may favor individuals with one extreme value for a trait, shifting the average value of that trait in one direction over the course of many generations.

There are no NGSS/DCI concepts currently linked to this resource.

With increased experience, the instructor will be able to develop additional problem-based discussion questions, optimizing them for particular applications and topics. To learn more about how problem-based discussion and other types of active-learning activities can be easily incorporated into lecture (and for more downloadable slides!), visit our guide to active learning in the undergraduate classroom.