1. Module 4 Intro

1.8. Page 6

Lesson 1

Module 4—Mechanisms of Population Change

Reflect and Connect

 

Self-Check

 

SC 6. Complete this Self-Check exercise.


Reflect and Connect

 

Complete one of the following activities. Place the finished product in your course folder.

  • Create a mind map to show the connections between mutations, sexual reproduction, variation, and natural selection.

  • Give a visual or text-based example or representation for each of the following:

    • sexual selection
    • biotic selective pressure
    • abiotic selective pressure
    • variation
    • natural selection

  • Make two lists using text or images. The first list should include organisms with characteristics that could have evolved by sexual selection. The second list should include organisms with features that likely evolved due to natural selection where the organism’s food source could have been the selective pressure.
Reflect on the Big Picture

 

You have seen the importance of variation in the survival of a species and learned how variation affects the evolution of a population. A population needs variation in order to survive environmental changes. When one organism has an advantage because of a variation, it can survive. When the organism reproduces, it passes on the adaptation to its offspring. Eventually, over time and many generations, most of the population will have this adaptation. The accumulation of adaptations causes the population to evolve.

 

Can you look at your own life and see examples of variation? Do any of these variations give you or your friends an advantage? Make a list of these variations, and discuss them with a friend or a classmate before you get started on your module project.

 

Module Project

 

You will create a game, play, or podcast for this project. Participants must answer a variety of questions while playing the game, watching the play, or viewing the podcast. Have you read through the requirements for the module project yet? If not, you can find the requirements in the Module Summary and Assessment. Read through the project information so you understand how you will be assessed on this major project.

  1. Read through the requirements for the module project in the Module Summary and Assessment.

  2. Decide on a theme. Some possible theme ideas include human evolution, extinct species, a day in the life of Charles Darwin, controversial evolution, dinosaurs, or any other theme you can think of.

  3. You have learned enough information in this lesson to answer the first three questions in the assignment. Jot down notes on these three questions.

    • How is sexual reproduction significant in creating variation within populations?

    • How can mutations improve or harm an individual organism’s chances for survival and reproduction?

    • How do variations lead to the evolution of populations?
  1. Brainstorm ways of getting this information into your game, play, or podcast in a creative way. You may work in partners to complete this assignment. You may like to brainstorm with another student even if you are not working together.

  2. Place your work in progress in your course folder. You will revisit this work in Lesson 2.
Going Beyond

 

Choose one of the following two activities to complete.

  • How does natural selection explain the development of the human eye? What type of evidence do scientists have that this theory might be correct? The PBS website contains content that specifically discusses the eye, and it contains a link to a video that helps explain how natural selection may have created the eye. Use an Internet search engine to find this site by typing in the keywords “pbs evolution library.” Once at this site, you can search for “evolution of the eye.” Put your answers in your course folder.
     

  • Read a chapter from Darwin’s book, The Origin of Species. In “Chapter 4: Natural Selection,” Darwin discusses sexual selection and gives some examples of natural selection. You may find the language difficult but, at the same time, interesting. Take an example of natural or sexual selection from this chapter and, in your own words, add it to your portfolio.

Module 4: Lesson 1 Assignment

 

Submit your Module 4: Lesson 1 Assignment to your teacher.