How Can We Explain Evolutionary Relationships among Species?

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB

Description

In this inquiry-based activity, students engage in science practices to figure out ways environmental factors drive the natural selection and adaptation of Galápagos finches.

This activity is based on content covered in the short film The Origin of Species: The Beak of the Finch. Instead of front-loading information from the film, the activity guides students through “figuring out” the key concepts first. Students make observations, analyze data, search for patterns and cause-and-effect relationships, construct arguments, and make predictions about the evolution of finch populations.

The “Card Images” ZIP file contains individual image files for the cards used in this activity that can be used in the classroom, particularly in online courses. A document within the ZIP file contains suggestions for their use. These card images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. We would ask that you attribute these to BioInteractive and not use them for commercial purposes.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

Student Learning Targets

Use evidence from observations to make claims and construct arguments about the evolution of Galápagos finches.
Use data to make predictions about the evolutionary relationships among finch species.
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information regarding how evidence can change thinking about scientific phenomena.

Estimated Time

Two 50-minute periods, possibly more if doing the extension.

Key Terms

adaptation, DNA sequencing, evolutionary tree, finch, reproduction, selective pressure, spectrogram, survival, trait, variation

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.