Introduction Natural selection is the process by which species evolve over time. Did you ever wonder how natural selection works? At the end of our unit, you should have an understanding of what it means for an organism to evolve and how natural selection acts as the key mechanism for evolution to occur. Natural Selection (The Basics) Survival of the Sneakiest This comic follows the efforts of a male cricket as he tries to attract a mate, and in the process, debunks common myths about what it means to be evolutionarily "fit."

Learning Goals This assignment is broken into two parts. Part 1: 1. You and a partner will complete the Peppered Moth Lab - This activity will help you to discover how important coloration is in avoiding predation and how environmental changes can lead to changes in an organism. 2. Answer the analysis questions 3. Portray results - graph the results from your Lab to support your claims. - At the conclusion of the activity, you should have an understanding of the two essential requirements for natural selection to work: heritable variation for a trait and differential survival and reproduction associated with having that trait. Part 2: The second part of the assignment will require you and your partner to do some research. 1. You and your partner will need to find another real life example of natural selection at work and create a powerpoint presentation of your findings to share with the rest of your classmates. 2. Use the Internet resources and the PowerPoint Rubric to assist you.

Requirements Follow the steps below... 1. With a partner, complete the peppered moth simulation lab activity. (Click on the link at the bottom of this box to access the lab activity) 2. Please submit one copy of the lab write-up. The write-up will include your data table and answers to the analysis questions. **You will be given two class periods to get the first and second step done.** 3. Use the internet to research more examples of natural selection at work. Choose one example to focus on. 4. You and your partner will prepare a PowerPoint presentation explaining how natural selection occurs using one example from your research. **You will be given two class periods to get the third and fourth step done.** To assist you, the following links are provided in the Assessment section: PowerPoint Template and PowerPoint Presentation Rubric. Peppered Moth Simulation Lab Activity

Assessment Click on the link below to access the PowerPoint template and rubric. Use the rubric as a guide to help you develop your PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint Template PowerPoint Rubric

Thinking Skills Be able to identify and use concepts relating to natural selection. Understanding will be assessed based on your brief lab report on the simulation. Performance will be further evaluated with your PowerPoint explaining how natural selection works. The lab report and PowerPoint assignments should demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data.

Examples of Student Work Click on the links below for examples of the kind of work that is expected from students. Student Example 1

Suggested Resources PBS Evolution Wikipedia - Natural Selection Bartleby.com - Evolution Biology-Online Berkeley.edu - Understanding Evolution Problems with the textbook depiction of the Peppered Moths The phenomenon of industrial melanism and Kettlewell's work on it are much more complicated than they are usually depicted in textbooks and the popular media.

Disclaimer Although the peppered moth story is a classic example of natural selection and is found in many textbooks, the story is not as simple as it has been told. Birds hunting for moths may not really pick them out depending on whether or not they blend in with the trees. Recent research suggests that the melanic (dark) moths may have some survival advantage related to their metabolism in highly polluted areas. (See link in Suggested Resource section - Problems with the textbook depiction...)