Candy Dish Selection
_ This activity is a
demonstration of natural selection. Students select candies from a bowl and
have an opportunity to think about what traits brought about the “survival” of
some candies. There are two parts. The first involves the students selecting
candy, and the second involves discussion and application of concepts. There is
time in between the two (while the candy gets passed around) which could be
used for lecture or video.
Materials:
_
How this activity was adapted...
This activity was initially designed to be more discussion-based between the teacher and students. If English language learners (ELLs) are unfamiliar with the vocabulary they could have trouble following the discussion. To alleviate this, a vocabulary list was included in the student worksheet. Complicated terms come with a visual example in addition to the definition, to aid in comprehension. In addition, instead of writing the number of candy (before and after) and the traits selected and not selected for on the board, a graphic organizer was added to help students work through the concepts themselves, and give them organization to do so. Finally, a quick-write response was added to the end to give ELLs practice writing about the science they have learned.
This activity was initially designed to be more discussion-based between the teacher and students. If English language learners (ELLs) are unfamiliar with the vocabulary they could have trouble following the discussion. To alleviate this, a vocabulary list was included in the student worksheet. Complicated terms come with a visual example in addition to the definition, to aid in comprehension. In addition, instead of writing the number of candy (before and after) and the traits selected and not selected for on the board, a graphic organizer was added to help students work through the concepts themselves, and give them organization to do so. Finally, a quick-write response was added to the end to give ELLs practice writing about the science they have learned.