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Stickleback Evolution Virtual Lab

Start Interactive
Screenshot of the virtual lab

Topic

  • Evolution
  • Natural Selection
  • Paleobiology
  • Math & Computational Skills
  • Data Analysis
  • Statistics

Resource Type

  • Interactive Media
  • Virtual Labs

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Saved By
67 Users
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Description

This interactive, modular lab explores how stickleback fish and fossil specimens are used to study evolutionary processes, with an emphasis on data collection and analysis.

In this lab, students learn and apply techniques for analyzing the forms and structures of organisms — in particular, the pelvic structures of the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a model organism for studying evolution. The lab includes three modules in which students collect and analyze data using photographs of living fish specimens and fossils. Throughout this lab, students engage in key science practices, including making quantitative measurements, graphing data, and performing statistical analyses.

The lab contains an interactive lab space, an informational notebook, videos, and embedded quiz questions. It also includes supplementary resources, such as a glossary of scientific terms and a list of references.

The accompanying handouts provide structure and guidance as students perform the tutorials, experiments, and quizzes in the lab. The only difference between the “Basic” and “Advanced” versions of the handout is that the “Basic” version does not include the parts of the lab with chi-square analyses. The “Teacher Materials” provides background information, tips for using the virtual lab, and an answer key for the student handouts.

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

  • ​​​Collect and analyze data to quantify phenotypic diversity among populations.
  • Compare fossils and living organisms.
  • Explain how natural selection can drive the evolution of complex traits, such as the size and shape of skeletons.
  • Formulate hypotheses about selective pressures in different environments.
  • Use statistical analyses to gauge confidence in conclusions drawn from population data.

Estimated Time

One to several 50-minute class periods, depending on which worksheet and sections are used.

Key Terms

adaptation, body morphology, chi-square analysis, fossil, graph, laboratory technique, pituitary homeobox transcription factor 1 (Pitx1), random sampling, statistics, variation

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Version History

Date Published 02.27.11
Date Updated 10.27.22

NGSS (2013)

HS-LS3-1, HS-LS3-3, HS-LS4-1; SEP2, SEP4, SEP5, SEP6

AP Biology (2019)

IST-1.I, IST-2.B, IST-2.E, IST-4.B, SYI-2.C, SYI-3.D, SYI-3.D, EVO-1.D, EVO-1.E, EVO-1.G, EVO-1.J, EVO-1.N, EVO-3.A; SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4, SP5, SP6

IB Biology (2016)

3.4, 5.1, 10.2

AP Environmental Science (2020)

Topic(s): 2.6, 2.7
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-2.H, SP4, SP5, SP7

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

3.2

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9–12.3, ELA.RST.9–12.7, ELA.WHST.9–12.1
Math.A-REI.3, Math.S-IC.1, Math.S-IC.4; MP1, MP2, MP3

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1, CC3; DP1, DP2, DP3

Materials

Resource Google Folder (link)
Student Handout—Advanced (PDF) 158 KB
Student Handout—Basic (PDF) 138 KB
Teacher Materials (PDF) 215 KB
iOS App - iPad (Link) 277.1 MB

Use This Resource With

Video Resource
The Making of the Fittest: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies

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Interactive Assessment for Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies
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Click & Learn
Genetic Switches
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Phenomenal Images
Stickleback Spines
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Film Activities
Activity for Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies
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Pelvic Evolution in Sticklebacks
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Schooling Behavior of Stickleback Fish from Different Habitats
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Clips
Stickleback Fish Environment
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The Making of the Fittest: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies
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Animations
Regulatory Switches in Stickleback Fish
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Clips
Fossil Record of Stickleback Evolution
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Labs & Demos
Modeling the Regulatory Switches of the Pitx1 Gene in Stickleback Fish
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Card Activities
Using Genetic Crosses to Analyze a Stickleback Trait

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