Survival Through Selection

Overview

Students investigate natural selection through the evolutionary game Who Wants to Live a Million Years. In a teacher-led whole-class activity, they model how variation, environmental pressures and differential survival can change a population over generations. The lesson builds on prior understanding that organisms have characteristics that may be inherited.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• describe natural selection as a process that can change the characteristics of a population over generations
• identify variation, selection pressure, survival and reproduction in an evolutionary model
• collect and analyse game data to identify trends and relationships
• use evidence to explain how natural selection contributes to the diversity of living things

Success criteria

• I can identify a variation and a selection pressure in the game.
• I can explain why some individuals survive and reproduce more successfully than others.
• I can use results from several generations to describe a trend.
• I can distinguish between an individual changing and a population changing over time.

Curriculum links

• Genetics and evolutionary change — the relationship between biological diversity and the theory of evolution
• Data analysis — identifying trends, patterns and relationships and drawing conclusions from investigation data
• Problem-solving — selecting a strategy, making decisions and evaluating a proposed explanation
• Environmental sustainability — considering how environmental conditions affect living things

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Reintroduction and retrieval recap. Teacher briefly reintroduces natural selection: populations contain variation; an environmental selection pressure affects which individuals are more likely to survive; individuals with advantageous characteristics may show differential survival and reproduction; and inherited characteristics can be passed to offspring, so they may become more common over generations. Emphasise that natural selection acts on existing variation and individuals do not choose to evolve. Students complete a quick retrieval sequence: define variation, identify a possible selection pressure, and explain why surviving individuals must reproduce for a characteristic to become more common. Take responses from several students and address one or two misconceptions without reteaching the full topic.

2. 5–12 min · Explicit teaching. Teacher uses the natural selection introduction deck to revisit the sequence: variation → selection pressure → differential survival → reproduction → inheritance → change in population. Model a simple example, such as differently coloured insects being easier or harder for predators to see. Students complete the key-term boxes on the natural selection game investigation sheet and explain the sequence to a partner using the visual scaffold.

3. 12–17 min · Game briefing and roles. Teacher opens the game, explains that the entire class will participate together as one group, and demonstrates one practice round without recording results. The teacher launches and controls the game, operates the display and calls each stage of the round. Students observe, respond to teacher prompts and record the class results on their investigation sheets. Check understanding with questions such as, “What is the selection pressure?” and “What must stay consistent for our comparison to be fair?”

4. 17–40 min · Teacher-led whole-class evolutionary game investigation. Teacher runs several generations of Who Wants to Live a Million Years, controls the pace and records the class results where everyone can see them. During the game, the teacher launches and controls the built-in quiz, using its questions to check understanding and prompt discussion. Students respond together or individually as directed, then participate by identifying variation, predicting which individuals are more likely to survive, responding to each selection pressure, and recording the starting population, survivors and reproducing individuals for each round on the natural selection game investigation sheet. After each generation, the teacher pauses the game for students to discuss what variation was present, how the selection pressure affected survival, which individuals reproduced, and how the population may change in the next generation. Invite whole-class responses and record key evidence before continuing.

5. 40–52 min · Data analysis and explanation. Teacher displays the class results and directs students to analyse the data using the prompts in the natural selection introduction deck. Students identify a trend, describe the effect of the selection pressure and complete the explanation frame: “Because there was variation in ____, individuals with ____ were more likely to ____. Over generations, the population ____.” Teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion, asking students to support claims with recorded evidence and to distinguish survival from reproduction.

6. 52–60 min · Plenary and assessment. Teacher invites responses from across the class, then corrects misconceptions, especially “the strongest individual always survives” and “organisms develop traits because they need them”. Students complete the final questions and exit response on the natural selection game investigation sheet: “How did the environment influence the population?” and “What evidence from your data supports your answer?”

Resources

• the natural selection introduction deck
• the natural selection game investigation sheet
• Teacher computer and internet-connected display for the evolutionary game
• One teacher-controlled device and display
• One natural selection game investigation sheet per student
• Timer
• Whiteboard and markers
• Calculator option for students who need support comparing totals or percentages

Assessment

• Listen to student responses and use questioning during the explicit teaching and game briefing to check understanding of variation, selection pressure and population change.
• Use the game’s built-in quiz during the teacher-led whole-class activity: launch and control the questions, direct students to respond together or individually, and use their answers to check understanding and prompt discussion.
• Check students’ data tables during the teacher-led game for consistent recording, sensible comparisons and evidence of more than one generation.
• During pauses and built-in quiz questions, assess whether students can explain how the selection pressure affects survival and why reproduction is required for inherited characteristics to become more common.
• Collect the worksheet exit response. Look for a clear link between inherited variation, environmental pressure, differential survival or reproduction, and a population trend supported by game data.

Differentiation

• Provide a visual word bank and sentence starters on the natural selection game investigation sheet. Read instructions aloud, model one round and check in privately with students who need repeated clarification.
• During the whole-class game, display each step, pause regularly for thinking time and allow students to record observations using tally marks before completing numerical totals.
• For EAL/D and students requiring additional support, use the repeated sequence “different traits, environmental pressure, some survive, survivors reproduce, population changes” and accept oral explanations before written responses.
• Extend confident students by asking them to analyse the class results, comment on reliability and explain why different random outcomes do not necessarily disprove natural selection.