Tag: stickleback

  • Investigation: Sticklebacks

    Investigation: Sticklebacks

    This investigation was modified from the HHMI Stickleback Modeling activity where students examine two different forms of the the stickleback fish. One form has spines and bony armor and is found in the ocean. The other has less armor and is missing its pelvic girdle, and is found in fresh water lakes. The activity has…

  • Evolution – VIDA chart

    Evolution – VIDA chart

    This chart is used as a graphic organizer to help students understand the process of evolution by natural selection. I use this chart multiple times throughout the unit, basically for each model organism we study. VIDA means: Variation, Inheritance, Differential Survival and Reproduction, Adaptation. These principles apply not matter what organism you are studying. For…

  • Investigation: Gene Switches in Stickleback Fish

    Investigation: Gene Switches in Stickleback Fish

    This activity was modified from HHMI’s “Modeling the Regulatory Switches of the Pitx1 Gene in Stickleback Fish”  The activity is presented as a type of investigation or case study where students examine regulatory switches and was a short film that describes the role of the Pitx1 gene in the development of spines. Students can work…

  • Stickleback Fish – An Evolution Story

    Stickleback Fish – An Evolution Story

    Students to examine two lakes and compare the types of fish in each. They learn how lakes form, and why spines may be an advantage for some populations.

  • Teaching Evolution Using Animal Models

    Teaching Evolution Using Animal Models

    Most evolution units start with a history of evolutionary thought, where scientists of the past, like Darwin, Linnaeus, Larmarke, and Wallace,  are discussed with regard to their contributions to evolutionary theory.    If you’re not careful, you can end up spending too much time on the history, talking about the Voyage of the Beagle and the…