Semester-long projects that will allow students to see evolution in action
In this lesson, teachers explore potential semester to year-long evolution lessons that will enable the development of classroom lessons about evolution by natural selection. These lessons consist of long-term studies where change in populations over time is observed rather than simulated.
At the conclusion of the lesson, teachers will be able to:
- Develop a long-term natural selection lesson for the classroom
- Plan for the effective measurement of traits and fitness
- Discuss and teach the 3 requirements for evolution by natural selection: phenotypic variation, relationship between a trait and fitness, and heritability of the trait.
The lessons discussed are designed to be semester to year long, long term, experiments. The long duration is necessary in order to see a response to selection.
This lesson is intended for either an Intro Biology or Advanced Biology class. Adjustments are suggested for younger students as well.
Resources:
Lesson Plan created by GK-12 Fellows Anne Royer and Jay Sobel, 2009