Darwin's Finches - HHMI

By Laura Shearer
Last updated over 6 years ago
35 Questions
1.

Did you arrange the species into groups based on their characteristics?

2.

Did you attach the cards according to groupings?
Did you give an informative name for each grouping?
Did you give evidence for each grouping on sticky notes/index cards?

3.

How were other teams' groupings similar to your teams'? How were they different?


4.

What evidence did your classmates use to justify their groupings?


5.

How does the evidence they provided support their groupings?


6.

Did you write at LEAST two questions about each team's presentation on sticky notes/index cards and write your initials on the feedback?

7.

What was your rationale for revising (or not revising) your groupings?


8.

Did you write additional evidence on your poster?

9.

Did you watch the video to 5:36 minutes?

10.

What do the different beaks tell us about the different finch species?


11.

What evidence did scientists use to determine that the 13 species of finches on the Galapagos arose from a single ancestor?


12.

What was an alternative explanation, and how did the scientists discount it?


13.

Why was the scientific conclusion of common ancestry important for understanding the effects of natural selection on these bird species?


14.

What did you change?


15.

What evidence from the film convinced you to make the change?


16.

What do the different groups of finches that you created represent?


17.

Did you watch the video from 5:36 minutes to 9:00 minutes?

18.

Describe the beak sizes of the medium ground finch population (species 12 in the finch cards).


19.

How did the population of medium ground finches on the island Daphne Major change as a result of environmental changes?


20.

After watching the segment, make a bar graph that shows beak sizes of the population before and after the drought. Your graph should indicate the number of medium ground finches with each of four different beak sizes (from smallest to largest) before and after the drought. Include finches with:
-much smaller beaks
-smaller beaks
-larger beaks
-much larger beaks

21.

Did you share your graph with your teammates?
Did you ask at LEAST two questions about your teammates' graphs?

22.

Did you watch the video from 9:00 minutes to 11:12 minutes?

23.

How did your graph compare to the graph in the film? Did anyone on your team have a graph that was similar?


24.

If no one on your team had a graph that was similar, what evidence did you not conclude?


25.

If your graph was close to the one in the film, what part of your thinking was the same as that of the scientists in the film?


26.

Why did the drought have such an impact on the medium ground finches?


27.

Make a prediction (you may get help from others in the class if you want): What was the response of Peter and Rosemary Grant to the dramatic change in the distribution of beak sizes in just one generation of birds?
If the drought had continued longer, what would you expect your beak graph to look like?


28.

Did you watch the final segment of the video? (11:12 minutes to 15:45 minutes)

29.

How did one ancestral finch population give rise to 13 species, each with differen characteristics?


30.

Did you create a graphic representation (graphic organizer) of the process that led to 13 different finch species?
Did you make it like a museum exhibit, with a written caption?

31.

Did you give written feedback in the form of questions to at LEAST three other teams' exhibits AND initial your feedback?

32.

What do you need to add to your exhibit?
What do you need to take out?
Does your representation stand up to peer review?


33.

Write an explantation for how the process of evoltuion primarily results from competition for limited resources (such as water, shelter, and mates) and differences in the abilities of individuals in a population to survive and reproduce in that environment. Write your explanation below, using evidence in Figures 1-4 on the worksheet to the left and information from the video.


34.

Construct THREE graphs showing the proportion of birds with symmetrical and asymmetrical wings in the population of birds (1) before and (2) after the windstorm and (3) in their offspring.

35.

Explain your reasoning for the graphs you created.