Natural Selection Lesson A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines.



Title Natural Selection Lesson
Description Lesson Objectives: 1. Students will be able to understand how adaptations help organisms survive by interpreting ling graphs of the population of a species over time. 2. Students will be able to develop conceptual understanding of natural selection by exploring how limiting factors, abiotic and biotic parts of an ecosystem and mutations interact and contribute to the survival of a species. 3. Students will be able to define positive, negative and neutral mutations and give examples. 4. Students will be able to assess the usefulness of models in scientific investigations. 5. Students will be able to propose modifications to a model by considering how it mimics a real world event. Standards: TEKS Science: 6.2E, 6.3B-C, 6.12E, 7.2E, 7.3B-C, 7.11B-C CCRS Science Standards:VI-C2 **Note:** The scripted version includes additional teacher resources, such as, background content, common misconceptions and a vocabulary list. It also has all worksheets as editable content.
Duration 60 minutes
Answers Included Yes
Language English
Keywords adaptations, limiting factors, natural selection
Simulation(s) Natural Selection

Author(s) UTeach Middle School PhET Team
Contact Email elyse.zimmer@gmail.com
School / Organization UTeach UT-Austin
Date submitted 7/25/12
Date updated 7/25/12