ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
Teacher Preparation
The Geekfeazel simulation is an activity that should
physically involve each student and most of the space within your
classroom. Below is a step-by-step procedure to use this activity
with the handouts you have been provided.
1. Make 2 photocopies of each of the 4 geekfeazel drawings you were
given. One of each pair of copies should have its torso and top of head
colored red and the other should be colored green. (I suggest colored
pencils)
2. Glue the 8 different geekfeazels to 8 Yz” X 11” pieces of poster
board. Tape the poster boards to meter sticks to make signs.
3. To begin the activity in class, number each student 1 through 8 to
divide the class into groups of 3 or 4 students. Give each student one
penny as you number them, this will get their attention.
4. Assign each of the eight groups a spot around the perimeter of the
room. Give on of the students in each group one of the signs with a
picture of a geekfeazel on it. Tell them that this sign is to remain in the
area
with the group.
5. Tell the class that they will be participating in a simulation of
natural selection, and then read the introduction and the environmental
conditions below. 1 usually analyze the results and lead the discussion
while the students are still in place in their groups at the end of the
simulation.
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
Background Information (fiction)
The geekfeazel is a flightless bird that lives only on an
uninhabited tropical Island in the South Pacific. When biologists
first described this, animal, three traits were immediately
recognized as causing dramatic variation in the geeklëazel
population. These traits are;
* size of the eyes
* length of the neck, and
* color of their strange hair-like feathers (which were either green
or a crimson red.)
Objective:
* Analyze how structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations
within a population enable it to survive in a given environment.
* Explain why variation within a population can enhance the chances for
group survival.
In this activity, we will simulate how changes in the environment and
the process of natural selection can influence the occurrence of these
traits within the geekfeazel population.
Each student will begin as a geekfeazel with some combination of the
three traits. There will be a roughly equal number of each of the eight
possible combinations of traits at the start.
As each environmental condition is read by your teacher, you may be
required to toss a coin to see if you live, die, or reproduce.
* If you die, you are to join the other dead geekfeazels in the “dead
pool” at the center of the room.
* If you successfully reproduce, your group should choose a fellow
student from the dead pool to join you in your group as a geekfeazel
of your “type.”
After a series of environmental conditions occur, we will analyze how the
process of natural selection has changed the geekfeazel population.
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
Environmental Conditions
1. The ozone layer is depleted, and increased ultra-violet radiation
from the sun causes many large-eyed geekfeazek to go blind. They are
easily picked off by predators. If you are in a group with large-eyes,
each person in the group should toss a coin.
* If it is tails, you die.
2. Red fur is more attractive to the opposite sex. If you are in a
group with red für. Toss a coin to see if you can reproduce and
add one geekfeazel to your population.
* If heads, you have a baby!
3. A new predator moves onto your island. Red-furred geekfèazels are
much more visible against green vegetation. If you are red, toss a
coin.
* If it is tails, you die.
4. The predator population has done well by eating red geekfeazels.
You are quite tasty if you are red. Toss again.
* If tails, you die.
5. Green fur is looking a heck of a lot more attractive to the
opposite sex, besides, red-furred geekfeazels are all biding in the
bushes. If green, flip a coin to see if you reproduce.
* If heads, you have a baby!
6. A drought comes, and most vegetation withers. Long-necked
geekfeazels can reach leaves and fruit on low trees. Short-necked
individuals cannot. If short-necked, toss a coin.
* If it is tails, you die.
7. The berries on the whistle gum tree contain lots of vitamin C.
This increases the sperm count in males and prevents infection by
viruses that can cause birth defects. The long-necked population soars!
If long-necked, toss to see if you reproduce.
* If heads, you get a baby! Toss again to see if you add another
offspring.
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
8. A parasitic worm infects the entire population.
* If you toss two tails in a row, you die.
9. Ozone layer continues to deteriorate. If you have big eyes, toss
the coin.
* If it is tails, you die.
10. Long-necked geekfeazels are still better able to feed their
young, so much fewer die from the parasite. If long-necked, toss to
see if you reproduce.
* If tails you have a baby!
Results - Population analysis (on
chalkboard)
_____# of Big Eyes left
_____# of Small Eyes
_____# of Long Necks
_____# of Short Necks
_____# of Green Feathers
_____# of Red Feathers
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
Questions for Discussion
1. Did any of the original “types”, combinations of the three traits,
become extinct?
2. Are any of the original types endangered of becoming extinct?
3. Is there still the same amount of variation in the geekfeazel
population?
4. Did any trait or traits become more abundant in the population? If
so, explain why each of these traits was “se1ected by changes in the
environment?
5. If current environmental conditions continue, what do you think the
average geekfeazel will look like in another 20 years in the future?
6. Name a trait that is now rare in the geekfeazel population.
7. Describe a change in the environment that could possibly cause this
trait to be selected in the future so that it becomes more abundant in
the population.
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
Name - _____________________
Date - ______________
STUDENT SHEET
Learning Target(s)
* Analyze how structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations within a
population enable it to survive in a given environment.
* Explain why variation within a population can enhance the chances for group
survival.
Results (Population analysis)
_______ # of Big Eyes left
_______ # of Short Necks left
_______ # of Small Eyes left
______ # of Green Feathers left
_______ # of Long Necks left
______ # of Red Feathers left
Questions
1) Did any of the original “types”, or combinations of the three traits become
extinct? ________ if so, which traits and why?
2) Are any of the original types endangered of becoming extinct? ______
3) Is there still the same amount of variation in the geekfeazel population?
4) Did any trait or traits become more abundant in population? _______
* If so, explain why each of these traits was ‘selected” by changes in the
environment?
5) If current environmental conditions continue, what do you think the average
geekfeazel will look like in another 20 years in the future?
6) Name a trait that is now rare in the geekfeazel population.
7) Describe a “possible” change in the environment that could cause this trait to
be selected in the future so that it becomes more abundant in the population.
ACTIVITY – GEEKFEAZEL SIMULATION
BEFORE The Environmental Changes
Red
Green
Big
Small
Long
Short
Feather Color
Eye Size
Neck length
AFTER The Environmental Changes
Red
Green
Big
Small
Long
Short
Feather Color
Eye Size
Neck length