Science Learning PacketGrade 8:

Natural Selection, Lesson 2 science learning activities for SPS students during the COVID-19 school closure.

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Grade 8 Science Learning Activity

Natural Selection Unit

Lesson 2 Optional Instructional Materials

Hello Families,

We hope you and your family are well and safe during this time. During this unprecedented out-of-school time, the SPS middle school science team will be offering instructional opportunities for students that align with the district’s adopted middle school science instructional materials. This work is optional and non-graded.

This investigation packet is the first part in a series of district-aligned lessons about Natural Selection, an 8th grade life science unit developed by AmplifyScience. While AmplifyScience lessons are designed to be done in the classroom with peers, there are some activities that students can complete at home. In this packet you will find activities to accompany lesson 2 of the unit. Accompanying lesson videos will be aired on SPS TV and posted the SPS webpage under Grade 8, however this packet can be used with or without the accompanying video.

The videos can be accessed either online or through Seattle’s Public television programming, https://www.seattleschools.org/district/calendars/news/what_s_new/coronavirus_update/resources/sps_tv on SPS TV (local channel 26), social media (Facebook and Instagram: @SeattlePublicSchools, Twitter: @SeaPubSchools), and our SPSTV YouTube channel. KOMONews.com will also host on-demand videos under the tab “Lesson Plan” and broadcast on channel KOMO 4.3. These supplemental learning videos feature short segments supporting a variety of subjects and grade levels. All videos will be close captioned on YouTube. For more information regarding the SPS TV broadcast schedule and to find the videos, please visit the following website: https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/media_operations_center___sps-tv/broadcast_schedule

For students who have access to the internet and the following devices and browsers may wish to log-in to their AmplifyScience account from home are welcome to do so. See below for guidance on which browser

Desktops and Laptops (Windows 7+, Mac OS 10.11+) - Suggested browsers: Chrome & Safari

Chromebooks - Suggested browser: Chrome iPads that support iOS11.3+ (iPad5+) - Suggested browser: Safari

Additionally, we wanted to suggest that you make a schedule at home. A few parents have discovered after three or four days that their kids do much better with a set schedule, kind of like school, but certainly not as long each day. But this way they can keep some kind of order. For example, a student could do 30 minutes of math, followed by 30 minutes of science, followed by 30 minutes of reading and then an hour-long break to play outside. Certainly, these things are up to you, but if you are finding the lack of structure disruptive, this may help.

Sincerely,

Seattle Public Schools Science Department

Natural Selection Part 2 suggested materials to accompany the video:

This packet A piece of paper and something to write with A person to share ideas with Optional: Computer logged into Amplify

1.4 – Investigating Changes in Trait Distribution

You know the newt population has more poisonous newts today than in the past. This means that the distribution of high poison levels has changed. Let’s consider how the distribution of traits changes in a population over time. In this lesson, you will use histograms from the SIM that your teacher has made to help you find out how organisms’ traits can affect their survival in specific environments. You will see what happens to ostrilopes when their environment changes from warm to cold. What you discover about ostrilopes could help you better understand the rough-skinned newts.

Warm up: Observing populations at two generations

The histograms below show the distribution of fur level traits in a population at two different points in time. Review the two histograms and answer the questions.

1. Do the two histograms show the same amount of variation in the population at both generations? (circle one)

a. Yes b. No 2. Do the two histograms show the same distribution of traits at both generations?

a. Yes b. No

Work from the SIM (your teacher has completed the SIM work for you, but read the directions so that you know what the histograms show).

Open the Natural Selection SIM and open the mode: Fur and Temperature A. Change the temperature of the environment to cold (level 1). Press RUN and observe the population for at least 50 generations. Press ANALYZE and compare the starting and ending histograms.

Remember that the starting population’s histogram is in black and white stripes and the ending population’s is in solid light grey.

Results:

1. Which trait became more common over time? _________________________________

2. Why do you think the distribution of fur traits changed of time? Why do you think one trait became more common? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Predicting Fur Traits in a Cooling Environment

Use the histogram to predict what will happen to the ostrilope population if the environment changed to become colder. Shade in the bars on the second histogram and describe your prediction after 50 generations.

Explain your prediction in words. What do you think will happen? Why?

_______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Your teacher has tested your prediction in the SIM. They used a cold environment and started with the starting population above (histogram 1). After 50 generations, these are the results.

Notice that there are no ostrilopes after 50 generations. They all died. Did the population change in the way your predicted? Why or why not? _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

Reading: Read the article on organisms in the Pacific Northwest and then answer the questions.

Chapter 1: Introduction The forest of Washington are full of organisms – animals and plants, big and small, furry and feathered and scaly. All of these organisms have traits that make them well-suited to living in the environment of Washington. Choose two organisms below to read.

Parts of Washington are covered with forests. Those forests are home to all kinds of organisms.

Chapter 2: Common garter snake Common garter snakes are colorful snakes with long stripes that may be green, blue, red, orange, yellow, or brown. They can group up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, but they are slender and harmless to humans. Often living along the edges of lakes and ponds, garter snakes hunt small prey both on land and in the water. Their excellent sense of smell helps them to find and catch young fish, frogs, newts, worms, insects, and other small animals. Like most snakes, they swallow prey whole. Garter snakes’ stripes make it harder for predators to see them when they are hiding in grass or reeds. Predators that eat garter snakes include larger snakes, birds, fish, and dogs. If caught, garter snakes produce a foul odor to try to drive their predators away. Unlike many other snakes, garter snakes do not lay eggs. Instead, they give birth to live young – as many as 40 little snakes at a time.

Chapter 3: Oregon Grape-Holly Oregon grape-holly was named for its berries, which look like grapes, and its leaves, which look like holly leaves. Like holly, this plant has sharp spines sticking out from the edges of its leaves. The sharp spines protect the leaves from deer and other leaf-eating animals. In spring, bright yellow flowers bloom on Oregon grape-holly plants – these flowers are the official state flower of Oregon (but they do grow all over Washington, too!). The flowers give way to clusters of berries in summer, which ripen and become dark purple. Birds, black bears, and other animals eat these sour berries.

Reading follow up questions: 1. What part of the environment might make the garter snakes more or less likely to

survive?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. List one trait a garter snake has that might be adaptive to its environment and explain

why it is adaptive.

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

3. What part of the environment might make the Oregon grape more or less likely to survive?

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ 4. List one trait Oregon grape has that might be adaptive to its environment and explain

why it is adaptive.

____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

Make sure you have recorded the following vocabulary words in your journal (or on a sheet of paper that you can bring with you when we get back to school).

Adaptive trait: Trait that is beneficial (good) for an organism in an environment Non-adaptive trait: Trait that is not beneficial (bad) for an organism in an

environment. Generation: A group of the same organisms around the same age. Example: you and

your friends belong to one generation, your parents and teachers to another generation, your grandparents and elders to a separate generation.

Record the following key concepts.

Whether a trait is adaptive or nonadaptive depends on the environment the organism is in.

Populations can change to adapt to their environment (distribution of traits can change over time).

1.5 – Adaptive Traits

What makes a trait an adaptive trait? Today, you will see a real-world example of how an organism’s color can be an adaptive trait and then consider a claim about whether a yellow-color trait is always adaptive for ostrilopes in a yellow environment. After you support or refute the claim with evidence, you will apply your understanding of adaptive traits to a question about a new population: the thornpalms.

Warm up

Use the histogram below to answer questions about how the poison level of the newts changed over 50 generations.

1. Which description matches the histogram of the population 50 generations ago? (circle one)

a. Most of the newts had low poison levels; very few had high poison levels. b. Most of the newts had high poison levels; very few had low poison levels. c. All of the newts in the population had high poison levels. d. None of the newts in the population had high poison levels.

2. Which description matches the histogram of the population today? (circle one)

a. Most of the newts had low poison levels; very few had high poison levels. b. Most of the newts had high poison levels; very few had low poison levels. c. All of the newts in the population had high poison levels. d. None of the newts in the population had high poison levels.

3. How has the rough-skinned newt population changed? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Part 1: Evaluating a Claim

Claim: Yellow color is always an adaptive trait in a yellow environment.

Do you agree or disagree with this claim? (circle one) agree disagree

Part 2: Investigating Environment A in the Simulation

Like the previous lessons, your teacher has completed the work in the SIM. But it is important to read the directions so you understand what the histograms are telling you.

SIM directions:

In the SIM, open the camouflage mode. Make sure carnithons (which eat ostrilopes) are included in the habitat. Change the surface color to Yellow Level 7. Press RUN and observe the ostrilopes and carnithons for 50 generations. Press ANALYZE and compare the color traits of the starting ostrilope population to the

population after 50 years.

General Observations as the SIM ran:

At the start there were many colors of ostrilopes. The carnithons seemed to eat more blue and green ostrilopes than yellow. Ostrilopes mated with one another. If two ostrilopes were the same color, they had a baby

that color. If the ostrilopes were different colors, the baby matched the color of one of the parents, but it seemed to be random which parent.

Results:

Which ostrilopes were more likely to survive and become more common in the population?

___________________________________

Which ostrilopes were less likely to survive and become less common in the population?

____________________________________

This evidence (circle one) supports/refutes the claim about yellow being adaptive.

Explain what happened to the populations in both environments and why that supports or refutes the claim that yellow color is always an adaptive trait in a yellow environment.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Part 3: Investigating Environment B in the Simulation

Your teacher has completed the SIM for you. Read the directions to understand what they did to set up and run the SIM.

Directions:

Open the Natural Selection SIM mode: camouflage. This time DO NOT include carnithons. Change the surface color to Yellow Level 7. Press RUN and observe the ostrilopes and carnithons for 50 generations. Press ANALYZE and compare the color traits of the starting ostrilope population to

the population after 50 years.

General Observations as the SIM ran: At the start there were many colors of ostrilopes. Ostrilopes mated with one another. If two ostrilopes were the same color, they had

a baby that color. If the ostrilopes were different colors, the baby matched the color of one of the parents, but it seemed to be random which parent.

It seemed like more blue and green ostrilopes were mating than yellow. The thornpalms grew in a pattern where they grew best when the ostrilopes were

not near them.

Results:

Which ostrilopes were more likely to survive and become more common in the population?

__________________________________________________________________________

Which ostrilopes were less likely to survive and become less common in the population?

__________________________________________________________________________

This evidence (circle one) supports/refutes the claim about yellow being adaptive.

Explain what happened to the populations in both environments and why that supports or refutes the claim that yellow color is always an adaptive trait in a yellow environment.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Record the following key concepts.

The traits that exist in a population determine which traits become more common over many generations.

Over many generations, individuals with adaptive traits become more common in a population, while individuals with non-adaptive traits become less common.