Learning Exercise

How Does Evolution Work?

In this activity, students will take part in an online simulation of classic work performed by John Endler on guppies. The students will collect data, formulate a hypothesis, and run a series of experiments. Students will find out about the interplay between natural selection and sexual selection in a simulated population of guppies.

Course: general biology

Material:: Evolution
Date last modified:: December 19, 2003
Created by:: Jeff Noll
License:

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Evolution

This is a companion site to the PBS series Evolution. It contains numerous interactive exercises and simulations keyed... see more

Material Type:: Reference Material
Author:: Anne Zeiser, WGBH Press Contact and Clear Blue Sky Productions; Jason J. Hunke, WGBH Press Contact and Clear Blue Sky Productions
User Rating:: 5 stars

Exercise

Go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/lessons/lesson4/act2.html.

Follow the "procedures" for Activity 2: Flashy Fish.

Additional Information: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/lessons/lesson4/4_fish_questions.pdf

Disciplines

Audience

Topics

natural selection and sexual selection

Type of Task

Learning Objectives

To help students understand the concept of natural selection.
To help students understand the concept of sexual selection.
To explain to students the interplay between selection factors in a population of guppies.