Category: Evolution
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Construct a Chordate Cladogram – Guided Learning
Students learn how to construct a cladogram with this guided learning activity that focuses on the chordate group.
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Speciation on Daphne Major – Big Birds Get No Love
The beaks of finches on the island changed in size after a catastrophic draught. Students analyze graphs and explore how natural selection affects populations.
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Speciation Modes – Reinforcement
Students distinguish between allopatric and sympatric speciation and then identify what types of isolating mechanisms are described in scenarios.
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Data Analysis – Lizards in a Hurricane
Students examine images showing how lizards hang on to a branch during high winds. Data shows that some anoles have larger toe pads
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Evolution and the Peppered Moth Game
Based on experiments showing moths evolve in response to pollution. Play a game where you try to catch moths in different environments
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Population Genetics in a Fishbowl
Students learn about Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium by exploring a virtual population of koi fish. This virtual lab allows students to run experiments where they can change variables, like population size, migration rate, mutation rate, and fitness of two separate alleles. The alleles being studied control the coloration of the fish. Fish can either be white, gold,…
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Understanding the Evolution of Limbs in Snakes
Where did snakes come from? There’s a popular story about snakes in Ireland and how they were lead away by St. Patrick. From a science perspective, snakes likely never were in Ireland to begin with. Many islands don’t have snakes. Why? Because they haven’t had time to evolve there. The activity is adapted from Understanding…
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How Can Changes in a Population Lead to New Species?
This lesson explores the two models of speciation: allopatric and sympatric. You can also assign a simple print version that explores speciation modes. Students first read about allopatric speciation and apply it to the finches on the Galapagos islands. Each finch species became isolated on its own island, which resulted in each island having a…
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Hardy Weinberg Squirrels
This activity was created for students to complete on their own during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hardy Weinberg equilibrium can be a difficult concept, even with class guidance, so I’ve attempted to break it down into small bite-sized pieces. The Hardy-Weinberg equation is a fundamental principle in population genetics that describes the relationship between allele frequencies…