A1: Teacher notes

Instruction for the Activity:

Classroom will be divided in groups of 2-3 and each group will receive a basket full of words and their corresponding answers or definition.

A1: Teacher notesEvolution Terms Matching Activity InstructionsOverviewParticipants test their knowledge of key terms related to evolution.

Time5–10 minutes

Materials"Copies of the “Evolution Terms” activity"Pencils

Set Up"Make enough copies of the “Evolution Terms”activity for all participants.

Activity"Give each participant a copy of the activity."Explain to the participants that they are to match the definition with the appropriate term."Conduct the activity."After five minutes, ask for participants answers."Review the correct answers.

Debriefing"Which terms were easy to identify? Whichones were more difficult?"Why is it important to understand Evolution terms?"Did this activity help you learn more about the key terms related to Evolution?

Activity Instruction for students

Vocabulary Review: Match them ALL!

Match terms, definitions or questions with their corresponding by organizing cards from start to finish.

Handout with all Definitions

Evolution A process that changes populations of organisms over time. Since evolution ultimately involves changes in the frequency

of heritable traits in a population, we can define evolution more precisely as a change in gene frequencies in a population.

An evolutionary process that changes anatomy, physiology, or behavior, resulting in an increased ability of a population to live in a particular environment. The term is also applied to anatomical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics produced

adaptation An evolutionary process that changes anatomy, physiology, or behavior, resulting in an increased ability of a population to live in a particular environment. The term is also applied to anatomical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics produced by this process.

genetic drift Change in gene frequencies in a population due to chance or random events.

natural selectionDifferential reproduction and survival of individuals in a population due to environmental influences on the population; proposed by Darwin as the primary mechanism driving evolution.

Charles Darwin The 19th century English scientist who carried out the necessary research to conclusively document that evolution has occurred and then made the idea acceptable for scientists and the general public. This man did not invent the idea of evolution

Darwin's 4 postulates 1. Variation2. Heritability3. Differential Reproduction4. Nonrandom Reproduction

Fitness Ability to successfully reproduce relative to your population.

(typically measured as # offspring)In Darwin's thinking, the more closely related two different organisms are, the

More recently they shared a common ancestor.

If two modern organisms are distantly They should share fewer homologous

related in an evolutionary sense, then one should expect that

Gene flow is a concept best used to describe an exchange between

Populations

Darwinian fitness of an individual is measured most directly by

The number of its offspring that survive to reproduce

When we say that an individual organism has a greater fitness than another individual, we specifically mean that the organism

Leaves more viable offspring than others of its species

Sparrows with average-sized wings survive severe storms better than those with longer or shorter wings, illustrating

Sparrows with average-sized wings survive severe storms better than those with longer or shorter wings, illustrating

Stabilizing selection

Appendix: A-CRM

Vocabulary Review

Match the terms, definitions or questions with their correct answer by organizing cards from start to finish.

Term/Definition/QuestionFirst Word: Evolution

START

Term/Definition/Question

A process that changes populations of organisms over time. Since evolution ultimately involves changes in the frequency of heritable traits in a population, we can define evolution more precisely as a change in gene frequencies in a population.

NEXT: adaptationTerm/Definition/Question

An evolutionary process that changes anatomy, physiology, or behavior, resulting in an increased ability of a population to live in a particular

Term/Definition/Question

Change in gene frequencies in a population due to chance or random events.

environment. The term is also applied to anatomical, physiological, or behavioral characteristics produced by this process.

NEXT: genetic driftNext: natural selection

Term/Definition/Question

Differential reproduction and survival of individuals in a population due to environmental influences on the population; proposed by Darwin as the primary mechanism driving evolution.

Next : Charles Darwin

Term/Definition/Question

The 19th century English scientist who carried out the necessary research to conclusively document that evolution has occurred and then made the idea acceptable for scientists and the general public. This man did not invent the idea of evolution.

Next: Darwin's 4 postulatesTerm/Definition/Question

1. Variation2. Heritability3. Differential Reproduction4. Nonrandom Reproduction

Next : Fitness

Term/Definition/Question

Ability to successfully reproduce relative to your population.

(typically measured as # offspring)

Next : In Darwin's thinking, the more closely related two different organisms are, the

Term/Definition/Question

More recently they shared a common ancestor.

Next: If two modern organisms are distantly related in an evolutionary sense, then one should expect that

Term/Definition/Question

They should share fewer homologous

Next: Gene flow is a concept best used to describe an exchange between

Term/Definition/Question

Populations

Next: The Darwinian fitness of an individual is measured most directly by

Term/Definition/Question

The number of its offspring that survive to reproduce

Next: When we say that an individual organism has a greater fitness than another individual, we specifically mean that the organism

Term/Definition/Question

Leaves more viable offspring than others of its species

Next: Sparrows with average-sized wings survive severe storms better than those with longer or shorter wings, illustrating

Term/Definition/Question

Stabilizing selection

Next: GMO’s

Appendix: B-TN

Teacher will provide the instruction for students to complete their KWL chart. K=What you KNOW, W=What you want to Know, and L=What you learned.

Teacher will be walking around to observe students answer and what they are interested in learning. Teacher requests student to find a partner sitting to partner up with a student sitting beside or behind and share with them your “W” column-what you want to know. Students will be asked to add to column L during and after watching the GMO video.

Appendix: B-Classroom ready material (KWL) Chart

Task: In the space provided, share what you know about GMO’s (Genetically Modified Food), and what you want to learn before watching the video (4 min). After completing the first two column, “Talk Partner” for 1 (min) and share what you know and what you want to know. During and after watching the video complete the last column called What I learned? (5 min)

Youtube Video Link: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1

I keep my eyes and ears open to learn new things.

WHAT I “KNOW” What I “WANT” TO KNOW WHAT I “LEARNED”

Appendix C 1: Teacher NotesWhat is Biotechnology? How does it link to Natural Selection• Explain to the students that biotechnology is a way of using thecharacteristics of microbes and plant and animal cells for the perceived benefit of mankind.• Humans have been using biotechnology for thousands of years in the form of cross breeding, eg- a farmer notices that certain sheep in a herd give birth easily to lambsor they grow better wool than others. Hewill then breed from these lambs to establish a flock ofsheep that all have these wanted characteristics.- Cite the example of a breed of dog, the long haired daschund, established over 100 years ago by cross breeding daschunds and cocker spaniels• ask students to think of any possible negative effects of animal cross breeding, eg hip dysplasia in many german shepherd dogs?• Ask them what are the positive aspects of cross breeding?Can they cite any negative effects?Appendix C 2: Video Link- http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/genetically-modified-foods-pt-1

Appendix D: Artificial Selection Lecture – Teacher Notes

[2] “What words come to mind when you think of artificial selection?” Prompt students with referral to prior knowledge, evolution, natural selection

[5] —Animal breeders may also change the characteristics of domestic animals by selecting for reproduction those individuals with the most desirable qualities

[6] Referring back to the last point about artificial selection:

I. HOW IS ARTIFICIAL SELECTION SIMILAR TO NATURAL SELECTION?This process causes evolutionary change in the organism and is similar to natural selection only with humans, not nature, doing the selecting.

II. WHAT FEATURES OR MECHANISMS THAT DEFINE ARTIFICIAL SELECTION MAKE IT SIMILAR TO NATURAL SELECTION?When you select for certain characteristics in a certain organism, only those genes will be passed on to future generations. Those species will eventually evolve based on those particular traits.

III. HOW COULD ARTIFICIAL SELECTION BE CONSIDERED AN EVOLUTIONARY EVENT?Over longer period of time, similar to natural selection (where the best and fittest traits outcompete other traits to allow the organism to survive its conditions) artificial selection involves humans actively selecting the genes/traits appropriate for their purpose or environment, which places a focus on those traits and thereby leads to reproduction only of those traits.

[7] —These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. -- They are created using biotechnology…Application of scientific and technical advances in life science to develop commercial products-- There are different branched of biotechnology, blue – marine/aquatic applications, red – medical processes, white – industrial processes, and green – agricultural practices

[8] —Traditionally: the enhancement of desired traits has been achieved through breeding—But conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate

[10] —B.t., or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae. B.t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the European corn borer.

[13] —40 plant varieties commercialized by the government including: tomatoes and cantalopes have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugarbeets resistant to herbicides and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insect pests—Not all these products are available in supermarkets yet; however, the prevalence of GM foods in U.S. grocery stores is more widespread than is commonly thought. —Highly processed foods, such as vegetable oils or breakfast cereals, contain some tiny percentage of genetically-modified ingredients because the raw ingredients have been pooled into one processing stream from many different sources.

[14] What are some of the advantages of GM foods?The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:

· Pest resistance

-Crop losses resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing

countries.

-Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually.

-Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential

health hazards

-run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water

supply and cause harm to the environment.

-Growing GM foods such as B.t. corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides

and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market

· Herbicide tolerance

-farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a

time-consuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide doesn't harm the

crop plant or the environment.

-Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.

-For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to not be affected by their herbicide product Roundup. A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off

· Disease resistance

-There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working

to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases8,

· Cold tolerance

-Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has

been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato.

-With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would

kill unmodified seedlings

· Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance

-As the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places11, 12.

· Reduced maturation date

-for crops, this will yield products fastersand at high rate

· Nutrition

- Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated.

· Pharmaceuticals

-Medicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage

conditions not readily available in third world countries.

-Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes16, 17. These vaccines

will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines.

· Phytoremediation Not all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in all parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil18.

[15] What are some of the criticisms against GM foods?

Environmental hazards· Unintended harm to other organisms

-Last year a laboratory study was published in Nature 21 showing that pollen from B.t. corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars consume milkweed plants, not corn, but the fear is that if pollen from B.t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, the caterpillars could eat the pollen and perish.

-Although the Nature study was not conducted under natural field conditions, the results seemed to support this viewpoint. Unfortunately, B.t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a B.t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects.

-This study is being reexamined by the USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other non-government research groups, and preliminary data from new studies suggests that the original study may have been flawed22, 23. This topic is the subject of acrimonious debate, and both sides of the argument are defending their data vigorously. Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further.

· Reduced effectiveness of pesticides

- Just as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B.t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides.

· Gene transfer to non-target species

-Another concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These "superweeds" would then be herbicide tolerant as well.

-Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops planted next to GM crops.

-The possibility of interbreeding is shown by the defense of farmers against lawsuits filed by Monsanto. The company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against farmers who may have harvested GM crops. Monsanto claims that the farmers obtained Monsanto-licensed GM seeds from an unknown source and did not pay royalties to Monsanto. The farmers claim that their unmodified crops were cross-pollinated from someone else's GM crops planted a field or two away. More investigation is needed to resolve this issue.

-There are several possible solutions to the three problems mentioned above. Genes are exchanged between plants via pollen. Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene24, 25, 26. Cross-pollination would not occur, and if harmless insects such as monarch caterpillars were to eat pollen from GM plants, the caterpillars would survive.

-Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops27, 28, 29. For example, non-GM corn would be planted to surround a field of B.t. GM corn, and the non-GM corn would not be harvested. Beneficial or harmless insects would have a refuge in the non-GM corn, and insect pests could be allowed to destroy the non-GM corn and would not develop resistance to B.t. pesticides. Gene transfer to weeds and other crops would not occur because the wind-blown pollen would not travel beyond the buffer zone. Estimates of the necessary width of buffer zones range from 6 meters to 30 meters or more30. This planting method may not be feasible if too much acreage is required for the buffer zones.

Human health risks

· Allergenicity

-Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.

-A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions31. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies.

· Unknown effects on human health

-There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health.

-On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health.

Economic concernsBringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-

biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. -Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been

patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. -Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant varieties will

raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor.

- One way to combat possible patent infringement is to introduce a "suicide gene" into GM plants. These plants would be viable for only one growing season and would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate. Farmers would need to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year. However, this would be financially disastrous for farmers in third world countries who cannot afford to buy seed each year and traditionally set aside a portion of their harvest to plant in the next growing season. In an open letter to the public, Monsanto has pledged to abandon all research using this suicide gene technology35.

Extra information: GM Products: Benefits and Controversies (Good for debate)Benefits

Crops o Reduced maturation time o Increased nutrients, yields, and stress tolerance o Improved resistance to disease, pests, and herbicides o New products and growing techniques

Animals o Increased resistance, productivity, hardiness, and feed efficiency o Better yields of meat, eggs, and milk o Improved animal health and diagnostic methods

Environment

o "Friendly" bioherbicides and bioinsecticides o Conservation of soil, water, and energy o Bioprocessing for forestry products o Better natural waste management o More efficient processing

Society o Increased food security for growing populations

Controversies Safety

o Potential human health impacts, including allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects

o Potential environmental impacts, including: unintended transfer of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity

Access and Intellectual Property o Domination of world food production by a few companies o Increasing dependence on industrialized nations by developing countries o Biopiracy, or foreign exploitation of natural resources

Ethics o Violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values o Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species o Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa o Stress for animal

Labeling o Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States) o Mixing GM crops with non-GM products confounds labeling attempts

Society o New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries

[18] —Genetically-modified foods have the potential to solve many of the world's hunger and malnutrition problems, and to help protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling. Many people feel that genetic engineering is the inevitable wave of the future and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm for this powerful technology.

Appendix E1- teacher’s Notes

Teacher Guide: Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection

Learning Objectives

Students will …

Use artificial selection to develop a new variety of insects. Distinguish between the processes of natural and artificial selection. Compare the rates at which natural and artificial selection occur. Explore how the rate of mutations is related to the rate of adaptation to an

environment.

Vocabulary

artificial selection, breed, chromosome, evolution, fitness, genotype, mutation, natural selection, phenotype

Lesson Overview

Ever since prehistoric humans first domesticated animals over 12,000 years ago, people have tried to breed animals and plants that have desirable traits. Over thousands of years, the process of artificial selection has

led to remarkable diversity within species such as dogs and cattle, as well as crop plants such as rice and wheat.

The Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection Gizmo™ allows students to explore the process of artificial selection and compare its outcomes to the results of natural selection.

The Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection Gizmo was designed as a follow-up to the Evolution: Mutation and Selection Gizmo. We recommend you do that activity before this one.

The Student Exploration sheet contains Two activities:

Activity A – Students compare the processes of natural and artificial selection. Activity B – Students investigate how the mutation rate affects evolution (Homefun)

Suggested Lesson Sequence

1. Pre-Gizmo activity: Domesticated breeds –Linked to video –What is biotechnology

2. Divide the class into groups, and have each group do a brief Internet investigation of a domestic animal such as dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigeons, pigs, sheep, and so forth. Each group can present a slideshow of images that illustrate the wide variety of breeds of that animal that can be found. (If you like, you could also examine varieties of domestic plants such as apples and lettuce.)

After the presentations, discuss how selective breeding occurs. Starting with wild animals and plants, how did breeders develop such a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and other characteristics?

2.Gizmo activities ( 15 – 20 minutes per activity)

Assign students to computers. Students can work individually or in small groups. Ask students to work through the activities in the Student Exploration using the Gizmo. Alternatively, you can use a projector and do the Exploration as a teacher-led activity.

3. Discussion questions ( 15 – 30 minutes) As students are working or just after they are done, discuss the following questions:

Which process tends to work more efficiently, natural selection or artificial selection? Why do you think that is?

What is the role of mutation in evolution? What is the role of chance in evolution?

What are the limits of artificial selection? In which situations is it an advantage for a population to have a high mutation

rate? In which situations is a high mutation rate a disadvantage? In what ways do you think the Gizmo simulation is realistic? In what ways is

the Gizmo simulation unrealistic?

4. Follow-up activity: Combining data – (Done as a group)In the Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection Gizmo, chance plays a huge role in how quickly the population of insects adapts to it environment or becomes a certain color. If the right mutations crop up, the population can change very quickly. If helpful mutations do not occur, it may take several hundred generations for the population to change its color. Even if a helpful mutation appears, it could disappear quickly if the mutated insect is eaten or if the mutated chromosome is not inherited by any of the offspring.

To offset the effects of chance, have your students combine their data in each of the experiments described in the Student Exploration. By averaging data from a large number of trials, students will be able to get a more accurate picture of how quickly artificial and natural selection occur, as well as a better idea of the effects of mutation rate on evolution.

Scientific Background

Artificial selection is a term coined by Charles Darwin to describe the breeding of animals and other organisms by humans. In this process, a breeder selects which individuals to breed together, with the purpose of perpetuating desirable traits and eliminating undesirable traits. Darwin contrasted artificial selection with natural selection, in which nature selects the parents.

Humans have been breeding animals and plants for over 12,000 years. The first domesticated animals were probably dogs. Although theories vary, it is possible that stone-age humans used dogs to help with chasing and trapping large animals. Once the animal was cornered, humans could complete the kill with spears and other primitive weapons.

Other animals and plants were domesticated as human societies began to abandon a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and use agriculture to supply food. Sheep and cattle were domesticated around 9,000 B.C., and crops such as gourds, peas, and wheat were first grown at this time.

Two main methods are used to develop new varieties of plants and animals: hybridization and inbreeding. When two dissimilar animals or plants are mated, the resulting offspring are hybrids. For example, horses and donkeys can be bred to produce hybrid mules. Mules are healthy and vigorous but almost always infertile. Hybridization is more common among plants than animals. Many hybrid plants are fertile and can combine desirable properties from both parent plants.

Inbreeding is used to spread a desirable trait in a variety of animals or plants. When a desirable trait is identified, only animals possessing that trait are allowed to breed. This results in the breeding of many close relatives, a practice that can lead to inbreeding depression. Many rare genetic disorders are carried by recessive alleles. In a large and diverse population, the probability that two healthy carriers of a rare deleterious allele will mate and produce defective offspring is extremely small. If the recessive allele exists in a very tiny breeding population, however, the probability of two carriers mating becomes much higher. The term hybrid vigor refers to the fact that hybrids are often healthier than their purebred counterparts.

Historical Connection: Darwin and artificial breeding

As he created his theory of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin was inspired by a wide variety of sources, from his observations of South American wildlife and fossils as a young passenger aboard the H.M.S Beagle, to the works of the economist Thomas Malthus. A third major source of inspiration for Darwin came from his observations of domestic animal breeds in the countryside around Down House, his home outside of London.

Beginning in the 1830s, Darwin delved deeply into the selective breeding of plant and animal varieties. He carried out his own breeding experiments and thought of artificial selection as an ideal analogy for natural selection. The first chapter of The Origin of Species is devoted to artificial selection, and Darwin later wrote Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.

Ironically, Darwin’s family may have been victimized by inbreeding depression. Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. Several of their children experienced mysterious health problems, and three of them died before reaching adulthood.

Selected Web Resources

Artificial selection: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/lines/IVAartselection.shtml

Natural selection: http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/futuyma.html

Domestication: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab57

Hybrids: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/hybrids1.htm

Artificial selection activities: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/3103_dogs.html,

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/lessons/the-perfect-cow/lesson-overview/1491/

Charles Darwin: http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=111, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_9_114/ai_n15855369/?tag=content;col1

Related Gizmos:

Evolution: Mutation and Selection: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?554

Natural Selection: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?447

Rainfall and Bird Beaks: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?404

Appendix E2-Class room Ready Material

Gizmo Handout

Activity A:

Artificial selection

Get the Gizmo ready:

Select Artificial selection. Set the mutation rate to 2.0.

Question: How can a species be changed through artificial selection?

1. Set a goal : In this activity, your goal is to develop insects that are any color you would like.

What color do you want your insects to be? Blue, Green, or Red

2. Make a plan : Follow the directions in the Gizmo to produce five generations of insects.

How would you describe the process of artificial selection?

This is the process where humans choose the male and female based on desirable characteristics.

Artificial selection is also known as selective breeding or abnormal selection. It is a process of selective breeding in plants, animals and other organisms. Artificial selection is the procedure of breeding for certain traits. Humans individually select suitable parents in order to perpetuate certain desired traits and to eliminate others

How will mutations be useful in achieving your goal color?

mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA. Therefore, is similar to abnormal selection.

What strategy will you use to produce insects of your desired color?

Change background to different colour because it will increase

insects vulnerability to be detected and preyed. Hence, it will lead

to mutation of specific gene that would encourage mimicry.

3. Run Gizmo : Use the Gizmo to produce insects that match your goal color. (This will take patience!) When you are satisfied, click the camera ( ) to take a snapshot. Paste the snapshot into a blank document that you will turn in with this worksheet.

How many generations did it take for you to develop your insects? ____________________

4. Compare : If possible, compare your insects to the insects developed by your classmates.

What different colors of insects can be developed using artificial selection?

______________________________________________________________________

(Activity A continued on next page)

5. Collect data : Use the red, green, and blue sliders to match the Background color as closely as possible to phenotype of the insects. Select Natural selection.

Click Play, and then click Pause when the Average fitness first exceeds 90%. Record the number of generations in the table below, and then repeat for a total of five trials.

Trial 1 2 3 4 5 Mean

Number of generations to

achieve 90% fitness

6. Calculate : Add up the number of generations and divide by five to find the mean number of generations required to reach at least 90% fitness. Fill in the last column of the table.

7. Analyze : Which process tends to occur more quickly, natural selection or artificial selection? Why do you think this is so?

8. Summarize : How are the processes of natural selection and artificial selection similar? How are they different? If possible, discuss your answer with your classmates and teacher.

Activity B: Home fun

Mutation rates

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset ( ). Be sure Natural selection is selected.

Set red to 100, green to 255, and blue to 50.

Question: How does the mutation rate affect a population’s ability to adapt to its environment?

1. Gather data : Change the mutation rate to 0.1 and the Sim. speed slider to its lowest setting. Click Play, and then click Pause when the offspring appear. Record the number of mutations (circled offspring), and then repeat for two more trials. Do this for each mutation rate listed in the table, then calculate the mean number of mutations for each mutation rate.

Mutation rate Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Mean0.11.010.0

How does the mutation rate relate to the number of mutations in each generation?

2. Form hypothesis : How do you expect the rate of mutations to affect the ability of the bug

population to adapt to its environment?

3. Gather data : Click Reset. Set the mutation rate to 0.1, and move the Sim. speed slider to a faster setting. Click Play, and then click Pause when the Average fitness is 90% or greater. Record the number of generations required to reach 90% fitness in the table below.

Mutation rateNumber of generations to 90% average

fitness MeanTrial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

0.10.3

0.51.03.05.0

10.0

4. Analyze : How does the mutation rate affect the speed at which a population adapts to its

environment?

5. Think and discuss : You may have noticed that above a certain mutation rate the time required for a population to adapt to its background may increase. Why do you think this is so? If possible, discuss your answer with your classmates and teacher.

6. Apply : Scientists doing artificial breeding experiments often use radiation or other

methods to increase the mutation rate. Why is a high mutation rate useful?

7. Investigate : Use the Gizmo to develop a population of insects that are well adapted to their environment. (Average fitness is above 90%.) Change the mutation rate to 0.1, and run the simulation. Then, observe the population with a mutation rate of 10.0.

What do you notice?

If a population is already well-adapted to its environment, will most mutations be

helpful or harmful? Explain. _____________________________________________

Appendix G: Teacher’s note

Graphic Organizer: Compare/Contrast Artificial and Natural Selection In the Venn diagram below, explain the differences between artificial vs. natural selection and what the two have in common.

Differences and Similarities between Artificial Selection and Natural Selection

They both require that there be genetic, heritable differences within the organisms of the population.

In both cases, something is leading to the greater reproductive fitness of some individuals over others (In the case of natural selection, it is the environment which causes differential reproduction, in the case of artificial selection, it is the person doing the selection).

They both lead to changes in allele frequencies in the population over tim

Appendix H: Green Apple Red Apples

Apples will be printed on green or red/pink paper

Green = write down two concepts that resonated with you from today’s lessonRed = write down one thing that you did not understand or would like to know more of