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Title of Lesson Natural Selection – Pepper Moth Game Subject Area Genetics Age or Grade Level 8th Brief Overview Show an example of natural selection using an online game Estimated Time 50 min Standards/Unit Goals Learn appropriate vocabulary, Developing models, Essential Questions How does the environment of organisms shape how they look through natural selection Skill Objective(s) By end of this lesson, students will be able to Use evidence provided by a simulation to complete a worksheet and better understand the force of natural selection. Knowledge Objective(s) By end of this lesson, students will know Be able to define natural selection especially in the case of pepper moth populations. Materials Needed Pepper moth game. Worksheet Technology Tools Used MacBook with flash for each student Useful Vocabulary Natural Selection Allele Population Pepper Moth Prerequisite knowledge/skills Understanding of Heredity and familiar with how evolution works Students may confuse common ancestors with species Anticipated Student descendance from another species. Such as humans Preconceptions/Misconceptions evolving from chimpanzees Instructional Tips/Strategies for the Teacher Lesson Sequence Engage: Students to be presented with a history of the Theory of evolution form the ancients to Darwin and finally to Kettlewell. Trying to emphasize that thinkers from all of the world had ideas about species and how they came about. In my PowerPoint I focused on how each group viewed the natural order of things (Greeks, Chinese, Middle East, modern understanding). I like to include these different cultures because my class is so diverse and I think that it helps them to engage when they see that science is not only done by old white men. However all this leads to a very old and very white man, Charles Darwin. I tell the classic story of his travels and the corroboration of his ideas by Alfred Wallace. And finally Kettlewell’s experiments on Pepper Moths (one more white guy). The important thing to get them to grasp is that evolution is a long term process in which a species adapts to changing environmental conditions and can take millions of years. However how do we know that this happens as a human life span is only 70 years? Kettlewell’s experiment shows a vivid and testable environment for natural selection. In short environmental pollution changed the habitat of nearby forest from white barked trees into soot covered bark. This change greatly affected the Pepper moth population which were primarily white and in a few short years the population of moths showed a very high percentage of black moths It is clear the black moths had the advantage and they were ‘selected’ by the environment to breed more frequently than their white brethren Explore: The effect of predation and camouflaging of individual moths was adaptation that we are exploring and using a simulation on the internet we can have groups of kids explore natural selection using the pepper moth example. Have students partner up to play game and record data for each other to complete worksheet. The simulation runs two scenarios the first is the unpolluted forest of white tress and the second is the polluted forest of black trees. The student using the mouse will ‘hunt’ the moths with a bird by clicking on the moths to eat them. Although sometimes gruesome the students soon realized the advantage of moth coloring to their survival. Explain: Now using the recorded data from each partners run the students must make a CER about the effect of pollution on the population of white moths in the forest. The students use the data as evidence and have to use the idea of natural selection in their reasoning. Resources Weblinks Reproducible Materials References http://peppermoths.weebly.com/ Assessment Claim, Evidence, Reasoning to describe natural selection as it pertains to pepper moths in England Extensions/Explorations Graphing, population distributions, Reflections The activity was a very good one, even though some students tried to subvert the system by eating the harder to see moths. However even their attempts to do this was not completely effective and these students understood the system well enough to subvert it so I guess it was less concerning in that respect. I found that some students were very interested in the history portion that I presented and I think that giving the context of science in history can be a powerful tool for science teachers and can engage students especially if you give some respect to a culture or person that they can identify with. Presenting science as an inclusive and approachable pursuit should help engage everyone. Contact Information Scott Gillard [email protected]