Exploration+and+Discovery

Going Buggy Lab

The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the mechanisms behind natural selection. In this activity, five different sizes of beans are used to represent five different sizes of the same species of ants. In a yogurt container with a few holes punched in the bottom, students will place equal numbers of each ant size (beans). The student than puts a lid on the container and shakes it for ten seconds. Obviously, some beans (ants) will fall out of the bottom through the holes. These ants have died. Any ants left in the yogurt container will now reproduce. Students will then count the number of each ant size and multiply by two. The then add the appropriate number of beans of each ant size to represent reproduction.

This cycle of death and reproduction represents one year. Repeat for as many years as required. The point is that for this environment (inside the yogurt container) species with a larger size will be at an advantage.

This activity is available by clicking on the link below.

@http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AS7UVAn3V7-xZGdyZHpoemtfMGRjejNkNWQ1&hl=en