Name: Core: Date:

Natural selection simulation lab

Evolution and natural selection
Watch the videos and answer the questions below.
Stated Clearly videos: What is evolution? What is Natural Selection?
Describe biological evolution Any change in traits through evolution.
in your own words

Describe natural selection in Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals
your own words due to differences in phenotype.

Provide examples of evolution Different birds have different beaks in order to hunt for different food.
and natural selection

Objective of this lab: To understand that animals that are better adapted to take advantage of available
foods will fare better than those who are less adapted, and thus live to pass on their genes to the next
generation (natural selection).

Procedure:
1. Each member of your group starts with a spoon (eating technique)
2. Each student also needs a cup, which represents the animal’s stomach. The cup must remain upright at all
times. You must hold your spoon in one hand and the cup in the other. You may only grab one piece of
food at a time. Please stay honest.
3. You will have a set amount of time to collect as much food as you can.
4. Once the teacher says stop, you need to empty out your stomach, count the contents, and determine who
has the most to the least amount of food.
5. The player with the fewest items in their cup “dies”. That player will be reincarnated for the next season.
6. The players with the most food will be the reproductive pair for the table group.
7. At the end of each season, the number of students with each eating technique is recorded in the table
below.

Mutations will occur randomly, emigration may occur, and the conditions of the environment will change as
well. These changes will be directed by the teacher and recorded in the table below.
Instructions for mutations:
Season 1: Teachers will ask reborn players to guess a number between 1-5. If the player guesses
the number the teacher is thinking, that player receives a mutation. If the player guesses incorrectly, they
keep their previous eating technique.
All subsequent seasons: The players with largest amount of food pass their eating techniques to
the player that is reborn. If the eating techniques differ, the teacher holds a marble in one hand to
represent one of the techniques, the empty hand represents the other technique. The reborn player
chooses a hand and receives the eating technique that matches their choice (marble/no marble).
During subsequent seasons: Every so often, the teacher should introduce a different mutation
according to the Season 1 technique of “guess the number”.

*Depending on the teacher, the mutations, emigration, changes to the environment and survival and
reproduction thresholds may be decided differently. Please refer to the appropriate class data documents
for this information.*
Data Analysis:
Table 1:
Copy and paste your class data table from the class google drive into the space below.

Season chopsticks Binder clip spoon potholder peg

start 6 6 6 4

1 - normal 3 6 6 4
3 10 9 4

2 - famine 2 4 6 2 8
2 4 6 2

3 - mutation 1 4 6 2 8
-Final 1 6 11 16
population

4-

Analysis Questions: Answer the following questions in the spaces below.

A What was your strategy for collecting food?

Answer: I used the potholder and tried to go for the most valuable foods.

B What did you notice about your behavior and the behavior of others?

Answer: I noticed that the others were trying to go for the most valuable ones as well as ones that were easier to
pick up

C Describe the selective pressures placed on the species during the game.

Answer: There was a famine and a mutation that occurred during the game. The famine took away the beans and
the mutation gave new players pegs.

D Describe the effects each selective pressure had on the individuals of the species and their characteristics.

Answer: The pressures caused the players to change their strategies and gave the people with mutations an
advantage.

E Identify each mutation as positive, negative, or neutral and cite the data as your evidence.

Answer: The peg mutation proved to be negative to the other players, as the peg was very effective and didn’t
allow the other beaks to get more food. However, the peg mutation was beneficial for the people with the pegs.

Conclusion: Write a conclusion statement that concludes the lab.

Refer back to the objective.
Refers to the results from the lab.