Three-day Lesson Plan and Report Part I: Information about the Lesson and Unit

Topic: Natural Selection and Speciation Abstract

Our students will be learning about natural selection. They will first learn about how certain traits influence the survival of certain individuals in a population and how this impacts the variation within a population through a PEOE activity sequence. Next, the students will learn about how the environment selects for certain traits through a model, coach, fade activity sequence about peppered moths, and the long necks of giraffes.

Part II: Clarifying Your Goals for the Topic

A. Big Ideas
Evolution is the process that links all species to a common ancestor. Evolution takes place through the process of natural selection, over many generations. Individuals within a population and species share many common traits, but also differ in some traits, leading to variation within a population. Random mutations in the genetic code of organisms leads to new traits within a population that may be either beneficial or detrimental to the organisms. Traits that lead to a reproductive advantage increase in proportion in the population over multiple generations. This is process is the basis of natural selection. In any particular environment individuals with particular traits may be more likely than others to survive and produce offspring. This process is called natural selection and may lead to the predominance of certain inherited traits in a population and the suppression of others. Natural selection occurs only if there is variation in the heritable genetic information within a population that is expressed in traits that lead to differences in survival and reproductive ability among individuals under specific environmental conditions. If the trait differences do not affect reproductive success, then natural selection will not favor one trait over others (p.163). Natural selection can lead to adaptation, that is, to a distribution of traits in the population that is matched to and can change with environmental conditions. Such adaptations can eventually lead to the development of separate species in separated populations (p. 141). In some cases, however, traits that are adaptive to the changed environment do not exist in the population and the species becomes extinct (p.165).

B. Student Practices
1. Naming key practices Students will observe how individuals within populations vary and how certain traits enable some individuals to be more successful within a population. After participating in an activity, we will discuss how the population in the activity changed and why this occurred (constructing explanations). We will continue to investigate how populations change, but next we will observe how the environment influences populations in a case study of peppered moths. After doing a simulation lab, the students will analyze how the environment influenced the population of

peppered moths (analyzing and interpreting data). The students will continue exploring environmental selection by extracting information from a case study on giraffe neck length and illustrating how giraffes demonstrate the main principles of natural selection (analyzing and interpreting data). Lastly, the students will explain why the evolution of Pokmon characters is not a valid representation of evolution in the real world (engaging in argument from evidence).

C. Performance Expectations for Student Learning

Performance Expectation NGSS Performance Expectation(s)
1. HS-LS4-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence that the process of evolution primarily results from four factors: (1) the potential for a species to increase in number, (2) the heritable genetic variation of individuals in a species due to mutation and sexual reproduction, (3) competition for limited resources, and (4) the proliferation of those organisms that are better able to survive and reproduce in the environment. 2. HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations. Specific Lesson Objective(s) 1. Use data to support the four tenets of natural selection. 2. Use evidence about the process of natural selection to critique popular notions of evolution. Constructing Explanations

Associated NGSS Practice

Constructing Explanations Analyzing and interpreting data Engaging in argument from evidence

Part III: Classroom Activities

A. Storyline for the Lesson Sequence
Stage Role in Storyline
Lessons before Darwins ideas on natural selection, revisited ideas of variation within a population, Breeding your sequence Bunnies lab (how traits vary/change within a population) Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 PEOE: How different traits leads to evolution through natural selection. Model, Coach, Fade: How the environment selections for certain traits. Peppered moths (model & coach), and giraffe necks (fade).

Lessons after your Speciation and classification of different taxonomic groups sequence

B. Activity Sequence Details

Focus Objective Objective
HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

NGSS Practice
Constructing Explanations

PEOE Inquiry Cycle

Stages in Your PEOE Cycle This sequence will be utilized during our lesson on day 1. Stage Teaching Activities Predict Predict which traits within the population will be the most successful in procuring resources to survive and reproduce (e.g. unwrap starbursts) Explain Observe Explain Observe how the students with each trait are able to survive and reproduce as the population proceeds through several generations Explain how observations from the activity disagree with or support the predictions made before the activity

C. Lesson Plans
Lesson 1 Materials Presentation materials (Overhead transparencies or PowerPoint presentations, etc): none Copied materials (Handouts, worksheets, tests, lab directions, etc.): 35 copies Pages in textbook: Book:___N/A__ Pages:___N/A___ Laboratory materials: For the teacher or the class as a whole: none For each laboratory station: none Other materials: bags of starburst candies, several pairs of gloves of several varieties Lesson 1 Activities Lesson 1 Introduction (10 minutes) The students will be doing a PEOE activity sequence. We are having them participate in an activity that will demonstrate how traits within a population change due to natural selection. We will have four different traits: student without gloves, students with latex gloves, students with fleece gloves, and students with heavy winter gloves. The point of the activity is for the students to unwrap starburst candies and eat them. If they unwrap three starbursts, they will survive and if they unwrap five starbursts they can reproduce (grab a friend from the group). As the activity progresses, eventually the heavy and perhaps the fleece gloved individuals will die out. The individuals with no gloves will be the most successful and produce the most offspring, and the latex gloved and perhaps the fleece gloved individuals will survive but in lower numbers and produce fewer offspring than individuals with no gloves. Lesson 1 Main Teaching Activities (35 minutes) First, we will carefully explain the directions to the students. We will then have them predict how successful each trait within the population will be and the reason behind their prediction. Next, we will run the activity through several generations, so students have the opportunity to see the traits within the population changing. After we have completed the activity, we will discuss their observations, specifically how their predictions and explanations supported or

disagreed with their observations. We will then discuss some important ideas related to natural selection, including: variation within a population, inability to choose traits or adaptations, disappearance of less successful traits within a population, timeframe (happening over multiple generations), and what this could mean for the evolution of a species as a whole. Lesson 1 Conclusion (10 minutes) In a previous lesson, the students read a short segment on Darwins ideas on natural selection. We will have the students refer back to this reading and have them relate it to the activity we did. With further discussion, we will lead the students to the conclusion that the activity they participated in is a display of evolution by natural selection. Lesson 2 Materials Presentation materials (Overhead transparencies or PowerPoint presentations, etc): none Copied materials (Handouts, worksheets, tests, lab directions, etc.): 35 copies Pages in textbook: Book:___N/A__ Pages:___N/A___ Laboratory materials: For the teacher or the class as a whole: cups of white and newspaper circles (from a hole puncher), white paper and newspaper (for backgrounds), and forceps (to grab the circles). Other materials: none Lesson 2 Activities Lesson 2 Introduction (15 minutes) We will begin class by going through a case study of the evolution of the peppered moths. We will guide them through this study, bringing to their attention to the main tenets of natural selection and having them highlight these concepts. The four main tenants of natural selection are: 1. More offspring are produced in a population than are able to survive, 2. Variation exists in the population, 3. A competition for resources occurs between organisms, and 4. Organisms that are more fit to survive are those that reproduce and carry on their genes. Lesson 2 Main Teaching Activities (25 minutes) The students will do a lab activity that demonstrates how the population of peppered moths in England changed due to environmental factors. The students will track how the phenotypes of the population of peppered moths changed due to new selection pressures in the environment (bark color of trees) and predation. There will be white circles of paper (from a hole puncher) and newspaper circles to represent different phenotypes. For the first demonstration, an even number of white and newspaper circles will be placed on a white background. The students have 15 seconds to be a predator and pick up as many circle moths as they can. After each round of predation, the number of circle moths doubles (representing a new generation) and the students predate again for another 4 generations. Next, the students would have an equal number of white and newspaper circles on a newspaper background, and they would do the same protocol as described above. Lesson 2 Conclusion (15 minutes) This will include time for the students to complete the analysis questions and debrief about what they observed in this activity. We anticipate that students will have difficulty understanding

the concept of variation arising as a result of random mutation, as they are unable to see this process and therefore are more likely to doubt it. Students also may not believe that a population will increase as dramatically as it will in their simulation due to the dying off of the original generation. However, in reality most organisms have more than one offspring at a time, and the population increase is indeed exponential. We will make sure that they understand these concepts to the best of our ability by repeating these principles often and circulating to catch misconceptions as they occur, as well as by reviewing student work after the first two days to try to catch unsaid misconceptions. Lesson 3 Materials Presentation materials (Overhead transparencies or PowerPoint presentations, etc): none Copied materials (Handouts, worksheets, tests, lab directions, etc.): 35 copies Pages in textbook: Book:___N/A__ Pages:___N/A___ Laboratory materials: For the teacher or the class as a whole: cups of white and newspaper circles (from a hole puncher), white paper and newspaper (for backgrounds), and forceps (to grab the circles). Other materials: http://www.tubechop.com/watch/2377655 (Clip of pokemon evolution) http://www.tubechop.com/watch/2377898 (Clip of Bill Nye Discussing Giraffes Long Neck) Lesson 3 Activities Lesson 3 Introduction (15 minutes) The warm-up will be for the students to come up with reasoning behind the 4 rules for natural selection based on what we have done in the past two days. After brainstorming on their own for several minutes, we will come together as a group and make a master list of rules for natural selection. Lesson 3 Main Teaching Activities (35 minutes) The students will have the majority of the remainder of class to complete two tasks. We will give the students a case study about giraffe neck length. The students will find the four main tenets of natural selection within the case study (similar to what we established as rules for natural selection). They will then illustrate each of the four main tenants in the context of the giraffe case study example. Next, we will give the students three evolutionary diagrams of three popular Pokmon characters. We will have them compare and contrast Pokmon evolution with the process of natural selection in biological populations. Lesson 3 Conclusion (10 minutes) After collecting the giraffe neck and Pokmon evolution assessments, we will debrief and discuss how Pokmon are not a viable representation of evolution in the real world, bringing the students back to the main principles of natural selection.

Part IV: Assessment of Focus Students

A. Focus Objective
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.

B. Developing Assessment Tasks

1. Compare and contrast Pokmon evolution to evolution by natural selection in biological populations. 2. Illustrate the main ideas of evolution by natural selection with the example of giraffe development of a long neck. 3. Different species have traits that make them well suited to certain environments. For example, giraffes have long necks for eating out of tall trees and bats are able to navigate in the dark by making noises and listening to how the sound waves echo off of other objects. Biologists call these advantages traits adaptations. How do scientists explain how adaptations occur?

Starburstian Survival Name: _____________________________ Date: __________ Hour: ___ Imagine a population of creatures called starburstians with gloved hands that live in the wild and can eat only starburst candies. There are 4 different types of gloved hands that can be present in their population (much like different hair or eye colors are seen in humans). The types of gloved hands are shown below.

large gloves

small gloves

latex gloves

no gloves

As the population of starburstians grows, they are not all able to survive because there are not enough wild starbursts to go around. In the following activity, you will see what happens to the starburstians in their struggle for survival. Predict: What do you predict will happen when the starburstians with different glove types compete for survival? Explain what will happen to each of the four glove types and why. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Instructions Start with two people in large gloves on, two with small gloves on, two with latex gloves on, and two with no gloves on. These 8 people will stand in a large ring with their backs facing toward one another, while the ground between them is scattered with starbursts. The starburstians have 30 seconds to unwrap as many starbursts as they can with their gloves on as possible. If a starburstian unwraps 3 starbursts, they have eaten enough to survive. If they unwrap 5 starbursts, they have gained enough additional energy to reproduce (so they can pick one friend to join them and represent their offspring- this friend must wear a similar pair of gloves!) Fill in the table on the next page to keep track of the starburstians that remain after each generation!

3 Starbursts=Survival Generation 1 2 3 4 5 2 Large Gloves

5 Starbursts=Reproduce Small Gloves 2 2 Latex Gloves No Gloves 2

Observer Metacognitive Log: Record at least three observations or questions below! What do you see? What difficulties are the starburstians having? How are their populations changing?

Did the results that you saw match up with your predictions on the previous page? Describe whether the results matched your predictions and if they didn!t explain what was wrong with your original prediction. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Questions for Thought 1. Compare the ease with which differently gloved starburstians were able to get resources (unwrap starbursts). Explain what this has to do with the final populations that were observed in the table above. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

2. If a starburstian was born with gloves that made it hard to unwrap its starbursts, did they use different strategies to obtain their resources? What were they? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 3. Is there a way for the starburstians to change the glove type that they were born with (without taking the gloves off)? How is this similar to inherited characteristics in the real world? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. What if the starburstians had lived in a different environment, where their starbursts were already unwrapped? How would this have changed the survival rates seen after 3 generations? Remember, the starburstians are still competing for a limited number of starbursts. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Natural Selection- A Case Study

Name: ______________________________ Date: ________________ Hour: ____

Four main principles are involved in the basis of the theory of natural selection. What are they? 1. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 4. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Case Study: The Peppered Moth

Peppered moths, a species of moth which lives predominantly in England, have undergone visible natural selection since the late 1700s. Up until the late 1700s, the moths were primarily speckled white in color with some moths having a darker pattern. As more moths were born each year, light-speckled moths became more common in the population, because they were better able to blend into the tree trunks where they rested. This prevented them from being eaten by birds that preyed on them in the woods. However, the mid-1700s marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England. As machinery began to be used regularly near the moths! habitat, the trees became darker with soot. As the moths! environment changed, the alleles that were common in their population began to change! Complete the activity below to view a demonstration of how the effects that followed occurred.

Materials: -White hole punches (1 bag per group) -Newspaper hole punches (1 bag per group) -One sheet of paper (handed out by the instructor) -1 Pair of Tweezers Instructions: 1. Place your sheet of paper on the table, and have one person spread 20 white hole punches and 20 newspaper hole punches over the surface while the other person isn!t looking. 2. The other person (the predator or bird) will then turn around and pick up the first hole punch that they see. They have killed this moth, and will remove the hole punch from the rest of its population (set it aside) 3. Record the number of hole punches of each type in the table below before continuing! 4. Once the final population is recorded, double the number that remain to represent the fact that because those individuals survived, they can reproduce. Follow the math in the table, which is bolded and in italics. 5. Continue this process for 4 generations, recording the number of individuals left after each round of selection and reproduction. Repeat this process on a sheet of newspaper and see how your results change! 6. Be sure to fill out which paper you used (white or newspaper) in the space above your table.

**____________** Paper:
Generation Starting Population Newspaper 1 A. 20 White B. 20 Number Captured Newspaper C. D. White Final Population Newspaper A-C= E. G-I= K. M-O= Q. W. White B-D= F. H-J= L. N-P= R. X.

Ex2= G. Kx2= M. Qx2= S.

Fx2= H. Lx2= N. Rx2= T.

I.

J.

O.

P.

U.

V.

7. Meet with a member of a group that used the opposite type of paper background that you did. Use the space below to write out (in your own words) the trends that they saw in their final populations. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Questions for Thought: 1. Describe how the population of moths changed between generations 1 and 4 for the moths in the newspaper environment. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. Describe how the population of moths changed between generations 1 and 4 for the moths in the white paper environment. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. Different species have traits that make them well suited to certain environments. Some examples of adaptations are giraffes! long necks, for eating out of tall trees, and bats! ability to navigate in the dark by making noises and listening to how the sound waves echo off of other objects. Biologists call these advantageous traits adaptations. How do scientists explain how adaptations occur? (HINT: Look back at your four main principles! How does variation enter a population?) ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 4. What moth coloration is the best adaptation for the dark (newspaper) background? Give data from your table or your observations in #7 that supports your answer. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

4. How does this simulation model natural selection? Describe where the four principles of natural selection can be found in this model. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

5. Examine the table below and construct a graph of it at right. Plot the years of the study on the x-axis and number of moths captured on the Y axis. You should have 2 lines on your graph- one for light moths and one for dark moths. (Make sure to label your axes and give the graph a title and axis units!)
Year # of light moths # of dark moths captured captured

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

540 480 390 250 220 190 150 90

110 200 210 280 340 410 500 550

Explain, in your own words, what the graph shows. What type of environment do you think these moths live in? Why? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Another Case Study: Giraffes! Looooooong Necks

Name: ____________________________ Date: _____________ Hour: _____

How did giraffes get their long necks? An old theory used to be that they stretched to reach leaves that were at the tops of the trees, and that by stretching over their lifetime, they would get longer necks which they passed on to their offspring. However, this is NOT what happened! Giraffes that were born with a random mutation had slightly longer necks (slightly longer). This allowed them to reach both low and slightly higher leaves, and this made them more likely to survive and reproduce. Their offspring inherited their random mutation (because it was in their genes, which were passed on to thei next generation!) Over many many generations of this process, the modern giraffes that we know, which can have a neck up to 6 feet long, came to be. 4. Use the boxes below to illustrate your interpretation of the main four principles of natural selection using the example of a giraffe!s long neck. Explain your drawing using the space to the right of the boxes (You can find the principles at the top of your Natural Selection Case Study Worksheet). a. Principle 1: _______________________________________________________ Drawing: Explanation:

b. Principle 2: _______________________________________________________ Drawing: Explanation:

c. Principle 3: _______________________________________________________ Drawing: Explanation:

d. Principle 4: _______________________________________________________ Drawing: Explanation:

Using your knowledge of evolution, compare and contrast Pokemon evolution to evolution by natural selection in biological populations. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________