Download Darwin and Natural Selection

Living Environment
Student Work
Unit Lesson #
Lesson 16. Charles Darwin & Natural
Selection
Name:
Period ______
Laboratory Experience ##
Worth ### Lab Minutes
Date :
Bridge
The variations that you saw in the plants during your lab test show an
example of variation in a species. Do you think that the plants you
examined yesterday have a common ancestor? What evidence do you
have to prove that? Why would there have to be more than one variety of
this flower?
Objective:
Identify the
process of
natural selection
and evidence
that was used to
develop Darwin’t
concept
Essential
Question:
What evidence
influenced
Darwin and his
theory of
evolution?
Mini Lesson
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Living Environment
Student Work
Unit Lesson #
The goal of life is survival, and that survival has been dictated by the laws of nature. Scientists
for as long as we know have struggled with what these laws are. Everyone has been able to
observe how life goes on around them, but it wasn’t until one naturalist was able to speak up and
back up those laws that people started to really put the pieces together.
It is important to note that evolution does NOT explain how life began, but rather it explains how
life has changed and diversified over time. So what is the science that has driven life for these
billions of years?
Greatest Discoveries: Introduction Linneus and classification as well as Darwin’s theory of
evolution
Evolution in the Galapagos:
Work Period
Answer the following questions based on the videos and what we have studied so far this year:
1. What exactly does natural selection mean?
2. What drives natural selection to occur?
3. The videos gave examples of organisms on the Galapagos Islands and how they have
“evolved” over time.
4. Why is it that organisms that started out as the same species came to develop new
species on each of the islands?
5. Explain how populations of finches shifted from year to year based on the observations
and measurements of the scientists studying the Galapagos Islands.
6. How does everything we have studied so far this year support Darwin’s theory of natural
selection?
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Unit Lesson #
Summary
What evidence influenced Darwin and his theory of evolution?
Closing
So if natural selection, this idea of survival of the fittest”, is the mechanism for evolution and
survival is the driving force behind it, what interactions/processes or behaviors of organisms are
leading the way?
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Living Environment
Student Work
Name:
Unit Lesson #
Period ______ Date :
Independent Practice
Excerpt reading from Origin of Species with questions
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Living Environment
Student Work
Name:
Unit Lesson #
Period ______
Date :
Title of Lab: ______________________________________________________
Exploration
Use this space to record observations that relate to the question being investigated. Also record
researched facts that might relate to the investigation as well.
Question
Record your question that you will be investigating here. It is best to write it in a “Does
__________________ affect ________________? Format so the variables are easy to identify (first
line is always the independent variable, second line is always the dependent variable)
Identify your Variables
Independent Variable:
Dependent Variable:
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Unit Lesson #
Prediction/Hypothesis
Based on the question that you asked, record your thoughts on what the result will be and why. Use
the “I think ___________________________________, because ______________.” format.
Experimental Design
List the materials that you are going to use and the procedure (steps) you are going to take to test your
hypothesis.
Materials:
Procedure:
Data Collection
Use this space to organize and collect your data. Remember, data can be qualitative (descriptions,
words, observations) as well as quantitative (numbers, values). Use both kinds of data when you can.
Organize your data into a table with a title, make a graph whenever you can, and use the variables to
help you do this!
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Unit Lesson #
Data Analysis
Put your data into words. This will be a relationship of your variables: what happened to the dependent
variable when you changed the independent variable?
Evaluation
This is where you talk about your experiment. Discuss how your results compare to your hypothesis:
do you agree or disagree with your original thoughts and use evidence from your experiment to back
this up. Second, discuss sources of error (at least 2), or things that could have gone wrong in your
experiment. Finally, develop a further investigation question: based on what you found out in this
experiment, what else do you wonder about? Again, use your “Does ________ affect __________”
format for this question.
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