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  • English
  • About 70 min
  • 9 steps · 2 quizzes

Natural Selection, Simulated — Watch Evolution Happen

A hands-on look at how populations change over generations — no biology background needed. Students compare moths, breed them, play a hungry bird…

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9 steps · 2 quizzes · about 70 minutes · open any step

  1. No two moths are alikeStart hereIn any population, individuals differ — in colour, size and much more. This is variation, and it's where everything in this lesson starts. Try it: tap a few moths, then sort them by shade and by size.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  2. Like parents, like offspringOffspring tend to resemble their parents. This is heredity. In this model a moth's shade is passed on: offspring land near the middle of their parents' shades, each with a small random difference.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  3. Be the birdBirds hunt moths that rest on tree bark during the day. Which moths does a bird find first? Try it: press Start and catch as many moths as you can in 20 seconds. Then look at who survived. Try the sooty bark too.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  4. Generation after generationPut the three ingredients together — variation, heredity, different survival — and repeat. Each generation is born from the survivors of the one before. Try it: press Play on clean bark. Then switch to sooty bark and play on.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  5. Check: the three ingredientsQuiz · 4 questions
  6. A true story: the peppered mothDuring Britain's industrial revolution, coal smoke killed the pale lichens on trees and blackened the bark. What happened to the peppered moths — and what happened when the air was cleaned up? Try it: press Play, or drag through the years.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  7. What speeds evolution up?Selection can only choose among differences that already exist. Start with an all-pale population on sooty bark and change the rules. Try it: set random change to none. Then try large. Then make the birds blind.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  8. Superbugs: evolution in a dishBacteria multiply fast, so selection shows up in days, not decades. An antibiotic works like a very hungry bird: it kills the bacteria it can, and the survivors multiply. Try it: give a dose, let them multiply, then give another dose.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  9. Myth or fact?Natural selection is easy to describe — and easy to get wrong. Try it: decide for each card: myth or fact?InteractiveHands-on · 6 min
  10. Deep timeSome changes take a few years; others take millions. Our everyday sense of time can't picture it — so let's zoom. Try it: tap events on the timeline. Then switch to the ordinary scale.InteractiveHands-on · 6 min

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