Week 9

 This week in lab we began by reviewing the previous weeks reading assignment and which NGSS appendix we chose to analyze. I chose Appendix J: Science, Technology, Society, and the Environment because I find interesting to examine the effects that these three factors have on our environment and how we can correct the negative ones. Next, we began discussing natural selection and how it leads to a predominance of particular traits in a given population. Likewise, some traits can be suppressed if not beneficial to an organism given its environment. To model this concept, we participated in an activity using utensils and beans. We were to collect as many beans as possible in the 30 second time window using our given utensil. It became clear that the fork and spoon were the most effective in getting the beans and the offspring adapted to make these traits dominant. 

I was able to relate this information and activity to what I already knew about the natural selection process. I remember learning in science classes about animals adapting to inherit dominant traits that best supported their survival. This activity was a great refresher of this concept and helped me recall the information that I had previously learned. 

I still have remaining questions about how the activity could be differentiated to produce different results. My group towards the end was able to collect all the beans from the plate. What if the beans were not on the plate and on the table? What if the beans were of varying sizes? How would these changes affect the results of the activity? Would the spoon and fork still be the best tool? Would the larger beans be more likely to get picked up? 













Comments

  1. Julia MikkelsenMarch 22, 2023 at 12:25 PM

    Great post Matt! I really liked your question about what if the beans were varying sizes. I also thought about this during the activity and I think it would make it harder to collect more beans. The larger ones would block the little ones. I wonder how these ideas would relate to nature?

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  2. Amber EmbrockMarch 22, 2023 at 1:39 PM

    Good questions Matt! I was thinking that if I did an activity like this for my class I would change up what the beans were sitting on. I was thinking it would be fun if each round had a different "environment." For example how hard would it be if someone did this activity in wood chips or sand.

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