Finding and Explaining Patterns in Student Responses

Ben did quite well on the giraffes and Pokmon evolution worksheets. He was able to
include appropriate pictures for each principle of natural selection, and while he did not
include a written description of his drawings, he included some notes that helped to
explain what he drew. But based on his pictures alone, it is clear that he has a pretty solid
understanding of each principle of natural selection, with maybe a few misconceptions.
In the first drawing, his picture included two parent giraffes producing many offspring.
One thing I would have liked for him to include would be a note saying that not all the
offspring produced will survive and reproduce. In the next picture, he drew several
giraffes with differing neck lengths to show variation among the population. For the next
principle, he drew two giraffes with different neck lengths producing an offspring. One
of the parents has a short neck and one parent has a long neck and they produced a child
with a middle length neck. He added a note saying passing on traits when combined.
I am a little worried by this because I am not sure if he confused by the genetics. His
picture and note suggest that he believes neck length is inherited in an incomplete
dominance pattern (though I am sure he would not know this term specifically). His
picture suggests that combining a short neck with a long neck will produce an
intermediate neck length, when it is actually completely inherited from one parent.
While this does not completely hinder his understanding of evolution by natural
selection, it would still be a good idea to clear up any misconceptions he may have. His
last picture he has two giraffes with long necks able to eat out of a tall tree and three
other giraffes with short neck unable to eat from the tree (one of them is dead). He is
correctly shows that eventually, giraffes with short neck will die out and will therefore be
less likely to pass on their genes for short neck length and that giraffes with long neck
will survive better and have higher reproductive success. He also has the two giraffes
with long neck in love, suggesting that they will mate and produce offspring. This part
was good because it shows that giraffes, like most organisms, will choose a mate that has
desirable traits. Neck length is definitely a desirable trait and I thought this was a good
way to show not only survival, but also reproduction of the fittest.
He also did well with the Pokmon evolution question. While he did not bring up all
four principles of natural selection, he discussed two quite well. First, he explained that
Pokmon evolution happens instantly with one individual while evolution in our world
happens over many generations and many individuals. He also stated that evolution in
our world happens through reproduction and inheritance, while Pokmon evolve through
gaining experience. I thought it was great that he understands that evolution does not
occur in one individual, but through many generations of individuals. I think that this is a
common misconception among students so I was pleased that he was able to realize this
quickly. He was not however able to explain how a trait first arises. For the third
assessment question, his response: only the population in which those traits are more
prevalent survives and reproduces. While this is not wrong, he did not hit on how the
trait first arises, which is through random mutation. He instead explained how the trait
becomes incorporated into a population or species after it first arises. This topic was
something we briefly touched on during the activity on the first day. It was a little
chaotic at times, so I am wondering if perhaps he just missed it. Overall though, I would
say that Ben has a decent understanding of the content we discussed over the three days.
He was able to depict each principle of natural selection, as well as apply it to a different
example several days later.

Daniel did a good job on his giraffe drawings as well. For the first principle, he drew
the standard several giraffes like most every student. Like Ben, I would have liked to see
some note about how not all the offspring will survive to reproduce. I think many
students did not include this for the first principle because they draw it/discuss it in the
last principle. We could have also been more clear about what we wanted in terms of the
drawings and explanations as well. In the drawing for variation, he includes two giraffes
of different sizes, neck lengths, and tail lengths, showing variation within the population.
For inheritance, he shows a parental giraffe with two offspring. He included a note
saying grandma (I think he meant mom) gives offspring long neck and long tail. This
picture shows that a parent organism will pass on some, but not all, of its traits to its
offspring. In the last picture, which he title only survival of the fittest he shows a
giraffe with a short neck and an x over the eyes (indicating it is dead) with the caption
not long enough neck so died and cant reproduce. While it is good that he realizes that
some traits make an organism better able to survive and organisms without those traits
will likely die, he does not touch on the reproduction of the fittest in this portion of the
assessment. I would have liked to see or read something about how the giraffes with long
necks will have higher survival success and will therefore have better reproductive
success. Even though he did not include this, I feel comfortable saying that he has a
decent working understanding of the four principles of natural selection. With that being
said, his understanding is pretty basic and superficial, so he could use more practice to
help deepen his understanding.
Daniel also did not explain all four principles of natural selection in his Pokmon
evolution explanation, but he did mention three. His first difference was that there is no
variation between Pokmon individuals of the same type, and therefore all Pokmon
inherit the same traits. He also explained that there is no survival of the fittest between
Pokmon since there is no variation. I was happy with his response, since he was able to
explain three of the four principles, though I wish his explanation had been a bit more in
depth. I was also happy with Daniel because he was able to correctly answer from where
a trait first arises. While again he did not explain himself, he did write that traits come
from random mutation. Due to his lack of explanation, and it kills me a little to feel this
way, a small part of me thinks he may have copied from a friend. On the other hand, we
were not clear in our expectations of answer length so I will give him the benefit of the
doubt, so yay Daniel!

Jake did very well on the giraffe assignment in comparison with other work he has
done. First, he completed the entire assignment, which is great for Jake. He was also one
of the few students to place the explanation of their picture in the margin to the right of
the drawing, like the directions stated. While I am obviously not stingy about where a
student puts the explanation, as long as it is included, this shows that Jake actually
read/listened to the directions and followed themwhich is great for Jake! In his first
picture, I would have liked to see more offspring, since he only included two. His
description said giraffes compete for food. I was happy with this because even though
he did not explicitly say because there are too many offspring, there will be competition
for resources and not all offspring will survive, I have a feeling that he was getting to
that point when he wrote this simple description. In his next picture for variation, he
drew two giraffes, one with a long neck and the other with a short neck and the caption
there are differences in a population. It may be simple, but this is pretty good work for
Jake. In the picture for inheritance, he again shows a giraffe with a long neck and a
giraffe with a short neck, with an explanation of traits are passed. While he may have
been being lazy, I would have liked to see some reference to traits being inherited from
parental organisms through reproduction. I think he gets the idea, but I would have liked
to see proof of his knowledge. For the last principle, he drew several giraffes with long
necks, stating can survive and reproduce and a giraffe with a short neck and the caption
death is upon him. Like Daniel, he hits on the fact that organisms with certain traits
will indeed survive, but I would have liked to see some mention about reproduction of the
fittest as well. Fit organisms not only survive, but reproduce, and this is important for
students to understand.
While Jake did include a correct reason for why Pokmon evolution is not a viable
representation of evolution in our world, I would have liked to see a bit more detail in his
answers. His answer was they gained XP and evolved into a higher species and In
real life it takes generation after generation. While he did only include one example, I
am happy it was this one. Like I discussed before with Ben, it is a common
misconception among students that individuals evolve. I am happy that Jake has a basic
understanding that individuals do not evolve, but populations do over many generations.
Even though he did not include very much in his answer, I am happy that Jake
remembered at least on piece of our lesson and was able to apply it to a different example
several days later. I was very happy with Jake throughout this lesson, even though he did
not finish the questions for the peppered moth lab, and therefore the question on
adaptations and random mutation. He did participate and complete some of the
assignments though, and that is a little win in my opinion.