Natural Selection and the Evolution of Darwin’s Finches

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Favorited By

15 Users

Description

In this activity, students develop arguments for the adaptation and natural selection of Darwin’s finches, based on evidence presented in the film The Beak of the Finch.

Students watch segments of the film and then engage in discussion, make predictions, create models, interpret graphs, and use multiple sources and types of evidence to develop arguments for the evolution of Darwin’s finches. The activity highlights two key NGSS science and engineering practices: engaging in argument from evidence using mathematical and computational thinking, and analyzing and interpreting data.

Student Learning Targets

Make claims and construct arguments using evidence from class discussion and from a short film on the evolution of the Galápagos finches.
Use data to make predictions about the effects of natural selection in a finch population.
Construct graphs to illustrate predicted results and compare them to actual results.

Details

Estimated Time

Two to three 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

adaptation, evolution, mutation, natural selection, rationale, trait

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.

Version History

Date Published 11.04.15

Updated 12.10.18

Curriculum Connections

NGSS (2013)

HS-LS2-1, HS-LS3-3, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-5; SEP1, SEP4

AP Biology (2015)

1.A.1, 1.A.2, 1.A.4, 1.C.1, 1.C.2; SP3, SP5

IB Biology (2016)

5.1 5.4, C.1

AP Environmental Science (2013)

II.C

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

3.2

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9-12.4, ELA.WHST.9-12.1
MP2, MP4

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1, CC5; DP1, DP2

Materials

Educator Materials (PDF) 776 KB

Student Handout (PDF) 566 KB

Finch Cards (PDF) 423 KB

Additional Materials

scissors
large white poster board or butcher paper
blue painter’s tape for attaching cards to poster board or butcher paper
access to a camera (optional)
sticky notes or index cards
graph paper
science notebooks or paper for writing
different-colored pens (optional)

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Beaks as Tools

Jason Crean describes how he uses BioInteractive's "Beaks as Tools" activity to supplement understanding of Rosemary and Peter Grant's research on the evolution of the Galápagos finches.

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