Objectives
- Students know how natural selection determines the differential survival of groups of organisms.
- Students know both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms.
- Students know sexual reproduction produces offspring that inherit half their genes from each parent.
Vocabulary
- natural selection
- phenotype
- population
- parent
- evolution
- genotype
- environment
About the Lesson
Adapted from a PhET™ simulation, this lesson allows students to model natural selection, providing an opportunity to make predictions about evolution in a population over a short period of time.
As a result, students will:
- Understand how natural selection drives evolution.
- Understand how populations change as a result of mutations and selection.
- See how parental genetics influence offspring.
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