Natural Selection

    This week we learned about natural selection and evolution. The drivers for evolution are- natural selection, gene drift, migration, and mutation. Natural selection is s a process by which certain traits become more or less common in a population over time. When learning about natural selection, we went through it a couple of different ways. We looked at standards as a class and broke them down to begin with. Following that, we completed an activity with beans (which are shown below) that displayed evolution. We all started out with different silverware to pick up the beans with- fork, spoon, knife. We then did three different rounds of 30 seconds and each time someone lost they got to pick a new utensil to use, representing evolution. The fork was the best one to have. At the end of class, we did a simulation about moths and how they camouflage themselves. 

    I have learned about evolution and natural selection before, so learning that information was not new to me, it was more of a refresher. I sometimes struggle to read the standards and the different specific parts, but that is something I can work on! Then, when it came to the assignment, I initially thought that the spoon would work best because it is what you would think to use when you are scooping something. Turns out, the fork is the best! Other than that, everything else was clear for me!

    I can apply a lot of what I learned today for my teaching in the future. When discussing evolution and natural selection, these are great activities I can do with my students. I have already known about these topics and what they are, but even these activities helped better my understanding of it all! I am going to take these activities of what we did today and maybe put my own twist on them! It was super fun and engaging, and I hope I can create experiments like this for my students as well!