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How have living things changed over time?

Learning Targets

Learning Experiences

Learning Targets Learning Experiences

110 I can postulate how an environmental change could influence selection, driving changes in traits in a species that will persist in the population. (14,15) 111 I can describe and provide illustrative examples of the main ideas behind natural selection (overproduction of offspring, competition for limited resources, inherited variation in phenotypes, and

112 I can use mathematical models to test

Using computer simulations, students investigate the effect of changing envi- ronments (rainfall, temperature, amount of sunlight, access to food, etc.) on the frequency of specific traits in a population. Students then randomly draw an organism and an environmental change from a list of options and predict: • how that environmental change could impact the organism • what traits might be advantageous to the organism under the new environmental conditions • what traits might be disadvantageous Using available print and online resources, students explore the key principles of natural selection: • organisms can produce enormous numbers of offspring • these offspring must compete for limited resources • these offspring also have genetic differences that are observed as phenotypic trait variations • the offspring whose phenotypes provide the best chance to survive to adulthood and reproduce will pass on the highest frequency of their traits (and therefore genetic differences) to the next generation. • Students evaluate the importance of each principle by predicting how its absence would impact the process of natural selection (e.g. what would happen if all offspring of a species were genetically and phenotypically identical?)

Using available resources, students define “adaptation” and “fitness” and identify examples of adaptations among various organisms that increase fitness – camouflage, mimicry, drought tolerance, defensive coloration, beak adaptations. Using a population-based simulation, students test the concept that organisms with favorable adaptations will be more reproductively successful. From these simulations students use mathematical models to test favorable adaptations and impact on frequency in a population. Students view an image of an organism with one or more interesting adaptations and propose factors that may have influenced the selection of this adap- tation to become more common in the population.

the concept that organisms with favorable adaptations are more likely to survive and reproduce. (11,15)

Misconceptions

V Except for differences between males and females, and between young and old, all organisms of the same species look and act the same. V The internal chemistry, appearance, and behavior of a species do not change, even over long periods of time. V Changes to the environment cannot lead to changes in the traits of species living in that environment. V Change occurs in the inherited characteristics of populations of organisms over time because organisms observe other more successful organisms and model their appearance or habits.

differential survival/ reproduction). (15)

Teacher Resources

Bead Bug Alabama Science in Motion E3BeadBug Students use colored beads and colored fabric to demonstrate natural selection. bit.ly/AMSTI-ASIM Which Beak is Best? Alabama Science in Motion E4Beak Students compare beak adaptations and explore how this adaptation affects fitness. bit.ly/AMSTI-ASIM Lizard Evolution Virtual Lab Howard Hughes Medical Institute In Module 3, students collect and analyze data from an experiment designed to explore how different traits that affect fitness in different habitats. bit.ly/lizard-evolution-virtual-lab

Teacher Resources

Effects of Natural Selection on Finch Beak Size Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Students use a graph to draw conclusions about how drought affects natural selection of beak depths of finches on the island of Daphne Major in the Galápagos Islands. bit.ly/finch-beak-size Dogs and More Dogs PBS Teachers Students learn about evolution through a card game that highlights how selective pressures can affect an organism’s evolution. bit.ly/dogs-and-more-dogs

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A Field Guide to the Alabama Standards

The Biology Compendium

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