5/7/2023 0 Comments Rock pocket mouse worksheet![]() Why is this significant? Because a 1%–10% advantage is a very strong selection pressure and because the population living on the dark basaltic rocks is made up of nearly, but not completely, dark-colored individuals. A 10% competitive advantage can do the job in just 100 years. It turns out that such a seemingly slight leg up is enough to result in a nearly complete shift to dark coloration in just 1000 years. Later, Carroll models the effect of a survival advantage of 1%, such as minor change in fur color might confer. For example, at one point, we learn that the dark-colored mice have white underbellies because “presumably there’s no selection for dark on the belly because predators are coming from above.” So you can ask “why are the mice’s bellies white?” In this case, it’s not necessarily because there is an advantage to a white belly, but rather, it could be because there is no disadvantage! Not all traits are adaptive! This one ten-minute film gives you opportunity after opportunity to probe your students’ understanding. What really makes this resource stand out, however, is the number of misconceptions it touches upon. Sound familiar? It’s a compelling and straightforward example of evolution by natural selection, and the film highlights two stellar scientists and communicators-Sean Carroll and Michael Nachman. The film tells the story-there’s that word again-of the rock pocket mice in the American Southwest: There are dark mice and light mice, dark rocks and light rocks, and lots of predators that rely on sight to catch a meal. ![]() ![]() So the video will not take up an entire class period, but it contains more than enough material to serve as the foundation for several lessons. The first thing to know about it is that it’s short-just over ten minutes long. One of his primary contributions along this line was to oversee production of a series of short films designed for classroom use The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation is one of these films. Carroll brought with him a desire to tell stories-to make learning science more like engaging with a good book than memorizing facts. Sean Carroll became HHMI’s vice president of education in 2010, a position that puts him in the lead at BioInteractive. But what makes them even more attractive is that educators work closely with the scientists in the conception, development, and piloting of the resources. Because HHMI has the world’s best scientists in its Rolodex, the quality of its multimedia materials is far above the norm. The mission of BioInteractive is to supply educators with free resources to teach science. Their booth, presentations, and associated staff and teachers have been part of the NSTA and NABT conference landscape for a while now. I have alluded to HHMI’s BioInteractive and its resources several times in this blog (in fact, another one of its short films launched me into a multi-week exploration of fossil misconceptions) but I’m delighted to have the chance to talk more about both the program and this resource in general.Īnyone who has attended a teacher conference in the last five or so years has probably encountered BioInteractive. And now, on to the post.įirst up for me is the HHMI short film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation. If you are a teacher and interested in providing feedback please let us know! We’d love suggestions for resources and a list of opinionated teachers to contact. ![]() When we can, we will connect with actual in-the-classroom teachers to get their thoughts. Qualifications for consideration are that the resource must: 1) be free 2) have something to do with evolution, climate change, or the nature of science and 3) be terrific. One of the ideas we came up with was a new blog series in which we will review a classroom resource and put on our teacher hats to discuss how it could be used. No details yet, but watch this space-things are going to get awesomer (yep, that’s a word-or it is now). In addition to basking in the 70° sunshine, the trip was fabulous because it yielded some new ideas and exciting discussions. I made my second trip out to NCSE HQ a couple of weeks ago.
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