Hands on Science Sexto: Activity 9 - Natural Variation

Reproduction is an amazing process, but it is not perfect because we are all different, we are not clones.  By mixing genes from two parents, and possibly having a few random mutations too, children are different from each other - they get different mixtures of genes from their parents.  Mutations also lead to a species evolving as individuals become more different. 

 

This activity is connected to the Reproduction unit.  In this experiment the students will collect data by measuring leaves or shells or some other living thing and use the measurements collected from the same species to generate a correlation graph for the species (blue).  If the students try to put measurements from other species onto the graph, they don't fit the line (red) because they don't share the same dimension correlations.  It is advisable to do the graph in mates in Spanish because they will probably need a lot of help to plot their data.

Natural variation in populations is an interesting approach to reproduction because it helps to explain how a class full of students are all humans but all different.  I planned this experiment with plants or shells but it can also be done with the students as representatives of the human species too.   

Link to activity (pdf):  Natural Variation Activity