Session 1 · VOICE: Create Conclusions
Which species can keep up?
- 20 minCamouflage hunters: run three 'generations' of the natural selection game and graph how the prey colours change.
- 15 minLink the game to real cases: horoeka leaves and moa, peppered moths, flightless birds meeting rats.
- 15 minFor species at your site, list one feature that helps and one that puts it at risk from the changes you found.
Session 2 · VOICE: Create Conclusions
Many causes
- 15 minBuild a cause map: all the causes, arrows showing how they connect, and the evidence for each arrow.
- 25 minWrite the explanation: claim, evidence and reasoning using food webs, selection pressure and adaptation.
- 10 minPeer check: is every cause backed by data, and is anything claimed that your data can't show?
Getting started
Explain one cause fully before adding a second.
Stretch
Predict what your site will look like in 10 and 50 years if nothing changes, and if the partner's plan works.
Checkpoint
The explanation names more than one cause, supports each one, and uses 'population' and 'generations' correctly.
Activities for this week
- Camouflage hunters: How can a population change colour over generations without any animal choosing to change?
- The moa-proof tree: Why do young horoeka look so different from adult ones?
Useful this week
- Evolution ↗ How natural selection changes populations over generations.
- The uniqueness of New Zealand plants ↗ Heteroblasty, divaricating shrubs and the moa-browsing idea.