Group Members: _________________________________________________

Period______

Natural Selection Dot Activity

The ultimate goal of each species of organism on Earth is to survive and reproduce. A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment is called an adaptation. Adaptations can be physical, such as certain color of fur or a long neck. Or, adaptations can be behaviors, which help an organism find food, protect itself, or reproduce. This simulation lab will take a look at how physical adaptations can help organisms survive in their environment, demonstrating the process of natural selection.

Objective: 

Students will be introduced to how and why adaptations affect natural selection.

Materials: 

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Procedure:

1. Assign the following jobs to the members of your group for the first round:

• Timer
• Hider
• Hunter
• Recorder

2. Send one group member to get a bag of dots and a sheet of newspaper.

3. Place the newspaper on top of your lab station.

4. While the hunter looks away, the hider spreads the dots evenly over the sheet of newspaper.

5. Once the dots have been spread evenly over the newspaper, the hunter will have 30 seconds to find as many dots as possible. The dots can only be picked up one at a time! Place the “captured” dots in the cup. The timer needs to keep an accurate measure of the time – only 30 seconds are allowed for each round!

6. Count the number of each color dot that was picked up. The recorder then fills in the data table (Table 1).

7. The next hunter will then look away again while the new hider puts all the dots back on the newspaper. (Make sure the dots are evenly spread out!)

8. Allowing each group member to conduct each job (timer, hider, hunter, recorder), repeat steps 6-8 until you have searched 15 times.

9. First, find the average number of captures for each type of dot. Then, answer the questions in the Analysis section of the lab. Only one lab sheet is needed for each group.

Data:

 Table 1. Frequency table showing the number of various dots “captured” per round.

Analysis:

1. On average, how many black dots were captured per round? __________________

2. On average, how many white dots were captured per round? __________________

3. On average, how many clear dots were captured per round? ___________________

4. On average, how many red dots were captured per round? ____________________

5. On average, how may newspaper dots were captured per round? _______________

Conclusion:

1. Which dots were the easiest to capture? Why?

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2. Which dots were the hardest to capture? Why?

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3. What do you think the dots represented in this lab? Explain.

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4. What do you think the role of the “hunter” represented in this lab? Explain.

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5. What do you think the newspaper represented in this lab? Explain.

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6. What effect did the appearance of the newspaper and the dots have on the number of dots captured? Explain.

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7. When an organism blends into its environment, the organism is camouflaged. How does this activity model camouflaged organisms in the wild?

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8. What is natural selection? How does this activity represent natural selection?

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