Inquiry Lesson Plan: Engage, Explore, and Explain

Teacher Candidates: Nicolas Sloan, Sarah Jones Topic: Natural Selection Grade Level: 9th

Title of Lesson: How do the differences between animals in a population affect their individual survivability?

Standard:
● Strand 1: Inquiry Process
o Concept 1: Observations, Questions, and Hypotheses
▪ PO 1. Evaluate scientific information for relevance to a given problem.
▪ PO 2. Develop questions from observations that transition into testable
hypotheses.
▪ PO 3. Formulate a testable hypothesis.
▪ PO 4. Predict the outcome of an investigation based on prior evidence, probability,
and/or modeling (not guessing or inferring).
o Concept 2: Scientific Testing (Investigating and Modeling)
▪ PO 1. Demonstrate safe and ethical procedures (e.g., use and care of technology,
materials, organisms) and behavior in all science inquiry.
▪ PO 4. Conduct a scientific investigation that is based on a research design.
o Concept 3: Analysis, Conclusions, and Refinements
▪ PO 1. Interpret data that show a variety of possible relationships between variables
● Strand 4: Life Science
o Concept 4: Biological Evolution
▪ PO 1. Identify the following components of natural selection, which can lead to
speciation
▪ PO 2. Explain how genotypic and phenotypic variation can result in adaptations
that influence an organism’s success in an environment.
▪ PO 3. Describe how the continuing operation of natural selection underlies a
population’s ability to adapt to changes in the environment and leads to
biodiversity and the origin of new species.
Learner Outcomes: (Worded for clarity, these must all be evaluated for achievement) Students will be able to:
● Explain the general process Natural Selection
● Draw connections between the concept of natural selection and examples from their prior
knowledge of animal and plant life histories
● Differentiate between adaptations and mutations
Evidence of Mastery:
● Demonstrate mastery of the concept by attaining an 80% on a test at the end of the lesson/unit
Process Skills: (Skills are you introducing or reinforcing: ex: observation and measuring)
We will be reinforcing the students abilities to create hypotheses, follow oral instructions, and form connections between
abstract concepts and their concrete applications. They also should have basic lab safety procedure skills already mastered to
some degree. We will also develop their skill at recalling the prior knowledge they have on animals possessing different traits to
help them survive and that these can be passed down to their offspring.
Lesson Summary and Justification: (Summary gives detailed information about what students are doing. Justification –
why is this lesson being taught)
Students will be exploring the concept of Natural Selection and how the random mutations can lead to
beneficial or harmful adaptations. They will also understand how these adaptations can lead to an
increase in fitness and what that means; fitness is the ability of an animal to reproduce. These are all
important concepts they will need to understand before learning about Evolutions as a whole, as they
are all interrelated parts to it and to each other.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know to complete this lesson?)
Students should already have an understanding of mutations and the heredity of traits. They should be familiar with the general
safety rules of the classroom. They should also understand the scientific method and be accustomed to creating hypotheses.
Alternate Conceptions: Students will not know much about adaptations and how it relates to mutations
& natural selection. They will also not understand much about evolution or fitness and now they are
related to natural selection.
Key vocabulary: (list and define) Materials: (list item and possible quantity)
1. Natural Selection 1. Beans
2. Fitness 2. Plastic Utensils
3. Adaptations 3. Chopsticks
4. Evolution 4. Paper cups and plates
5. Mutations
Engage: Get the students interested in the topic and provide a direction for the lesson.
http://projectbeak.org/adaptations/beaks_test.htm
Teacher Will: Show adaptations simulations and ask for student’s help to complete it; cold calling if there
are no volunteers. After the warm-up a set of Anticipatory questions will be given to the students to
have them respond with either they agree or disagree with stated question. After the experiment and
analysis these question will be revisited to see if the students have changed their answered as a result of
the lesson. This is to bring to light any misconceptions and possibly correct them as well as prepare them
for the explore portion, which is the lab.

Explore: A hands-on activity for the students to explore the topic.

Teacher Will: Students Will: (list all steps)

They will pass out utensils to the classroom,
explaining that each utensil represents a different
mouth form that is possessed by the elusive
woolybooger. The utensils are to be passed out in
equal proportions except for the spoons, which are
limited to two for the first round because the spoon-
mouth woolybooger is rare in the wild due to it being
a relatively new adaptation.
They will pass out beans to each student, explaining
that they are the natural prey of the woolybooger.
The teacher will ask the students to hypothesize
which utensil will be the best for picking up beans.
The number of students who choose each utensil can
be tallied on the board to create friendly competition
in the class.
Explain that in each trial, students must use their
utensils to pick up at least 20 beans in order for their
woolybooger to survive.
Pay attention as they receive materials and
instructions from their teacher.
Hypothesize which utensil will be the best for
picking up beans.
When a trial start, the students will use their
utensils to pick up, one bean at a time, as many
beans as possible until the round ends. They will
then count the number of beans that they picked
up and report whether or not their woolybooger
has died.
Students whose woolyboogers have died will be
given new utensils based on the proportions of
surviving woolyboogers.
The class will then repeat the trials until only one
type of woolybooger survives.

The teacher will then run a series of trials, starting

with one minute and decreasing the amount of time
in each successive trial. In each successive trial,
students whose woolyboogers died will be given
replacement utensils in equal proportions to the
utensils of the students whose woolyboogers are still
alive (this demonstrates heredity of traits).
Co-Teaching Strategy/Differentiation
One teacher will be in charge of the technology and running the lesson while the other interacts with the
students to make sure they stay on task and to clear up any confusion. The two teachers will switch roles
periodically throughout the lesson.
Explain: In this section the following three things occur: (1) students share what they discovered in
Exploration, (2) through questions teacher guides students to discover concepts and introduces vocabulary,
and (3) at end of Explain teacher states exactly what students should have learned from lesson.
Teacher Will: Students Will:

Once the lab is completed, the teacher will move the
class onto the discussion questions section of the lab.
They will ask the students each question, give them
30 seconds to think over the question individually,
then ask them to share their answers in small groups.
After the groups have had a chance to discuss, the
teacher will call upon each groups to summarize their
discussion for the class.
Then the teacher will go back to the anticipatory
questions and ask the students if they are still of the
same opinion for each question. The teacher will go
over each question as a class to poll and see if their
are any students who are still confused.
Students will have 30 seconds to think over the
provided discussion question individually, then
share their answers in small groups. After the
groups have had a chance to discuss they will
summarize their answers with the class.
Students will go back to their answers to the
anticipatory questions and see if their answers
are still the same.
Student will take notes on the teacher’s lecture
and ask questions if they have any.

The teacher will then give a short lecture on

evolution and natural selection so that any remaining
misconceptions students have will be dissipated and
the proper definitions of the concepts in the lesson
will be established.

Co-Teaching Strategy/Differentiation
One teacher will be in charge of the technology and running the lesson while the other interacts with the
students to make sure they stay on task and to clear up any confusion. The two teachers will switch roles
periodically throughout the lesson.
References Used: The lab that the lesson was based off of:
https://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/naturalselection.html
The activity for the Engage section is found here:
http://projectbeak.org/adaptations/beaks_test.htm

Anticipatory Questions:

1. The more well suited for an environment the more likely an animal will survive?
2. If an animal can survive longer/better than their competition they will likely have
more offspring than other?
3. Creatures of the same species can have different genes and traits?
4. These gene and traits are/can be passed down to their offspring?
 5. A species can change over time?
6. An animal’s environment can affect its ability to survive?
7. Natural Selection through the ability to obtain resources is more powerful to cause
change in a species that Sexual Selection.
a. If, however, a trait provides an advantage over a rival in securing a
mate, then it is subject to sexual selection. ... What Darwin
apparently did not clearly appreciate, however, is that sexual
selection is often stronger than natural selection, as it frequently
drives trait values beyond their naturally selected optima.

Discussion Questions:
1. What happens to animals that cannot compete as well with other animals in the wild?
2. Can you think of any real-life examples of the woolybooger, where one species has a
definite advantage over another?
3. Sometimes animals that are introduced into an area that they never lived in before,
out-compete and endanger resident species, why do you think this happens?
4. If only one species is considered the "fittest", why do we still have so many variations
among species. Why do some birds have very long pointy beaks, while other birds
have short flat beaks?
5. How do you think diseases can affect natural selection?