Natural Selection with Ms. Chohan

11/20/2018

Today was crazy awesome! We participated in a fantastic natural selection simulation with Ms. Chohan and from recess to lunch we learned how to use a balance scale for weighing heavier objects and a very sensitive digital scale that can weigh objects as light as one one thousandth of a gram. Students worked hard to complete their first ecosystems observation. In the afternoon we got into INQUIRY. Today in our NOVEL APPROACH MEETS INQUIRY LESSON we practiced making our thinking visible. Teachers modeled using the reading strategies of: setting a purpose, making connections and using background knowledge and monitoring comprehension and then students practiced. It was great to be ale to see all the great thinking. After telling Mr. Hong about the great day of learning he missed he was so pumped up he sent me about 35 text messages. We are so sorry you missed it Mr. Hong, but as you know........#thelearningneverstops!!!!!!

1) MATH:

Complete any unfinished assignments
Finish marking the handout from Monday

2) ECOSYSTEMS:

The next observation will be on Thursday or Friday

3)POST A RESPONSE:

Complete any unfinished PAR's from this week. I will be checking and handing out homework alerts tomorrow
In a complete paragraph, explain the simulation we did today
What were the results of the simulation?
How does this simulation explain the theory of natural selection
In your conclusion answer tis question: After completing this activity, what does the theory of natural selection mean to you?
Give one student feedback based on the above criteria and the givens (spelling, capitals, punctuation, grammar).
Edit/revise

Novel Approach Meets Inquiry!!
Whoot whooot!!!

Nathan

11/20/2018 05:11:39 pm

First

Nathan

11/20/2018 05:17:45 pm

Im so sad i missed inquiry.

Nathan

11/20/2018 05:29:05 pm

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 06:29:32 pm

@ Nathan

Why were the chop stick eliminated?

How does this connect an organism in the world? Can you give an example?

Nathan

11/20/2018 07:52:55 pm

Today we did a simulation of what natural selection might look like. The simulation was that every body had either a fork, spoon, knife, or chopsticks. There were a pile of beans and in a certain amount of time we had to see how many we can get our tray. Each hand had to have an utensil. The end result of this were that the chopsticks were eliminated first round and the rest survived the other rounds. I believe the reason why the chopsticks were eliminated in the first round were that it was very hard to get the beans with the chopsticks. In the real world not all organisms can eat food. Like the chopsticks an organism can have difficulty eating and if an organism doesn't eat it can die. An example of this are birds, birds don't use their feet or wings to eat they use their mouth. If the birds didn't have a mouth would they still be able to eat? Also if you had a more than two people surviving then their utensil can reproduce to get a new utensil. Our prediction on who was going to last the longest i think was the spoon because of how much it was increasing. This activity showed me what natural selection actually means. I learned during this activity that natural selection is when creature reproduce and if there can survive then they will I've but if they cant then they will be eaten by other animals and if there aren't more than one animal then the animal species could go extinct.

V.2 Thanks for the feedback Mr.Fisher!

Lucas

11/20/2018 05:12:31 pm

second

vincent qi

11/20/2018 05:13:10 pm

vincent qi

11/20/2018 05:14:36 pm

@Mr. fisher, what happens if we were not here for the lesson?

vincent qi

11/20/2018 05:25:48 pm

wait nevermind

Joseph

11/20/2018 05:26:53 pm

I poked the spoons around the bean, and silently swore when I stabbed it too hard and it shot across the table. Argh!

We did an interesting simulation today that represented Darwin's theory of evolution in its simplest form. In short, we were given some beans and four types of utensils to grab them as best as possible. After each round, we calculated the average amount of beans; each person who managed to get more than the average continued on (with their utensils) to the next round. In the end, spoons and forks tied with knives following, while chopsticks became extinct.

This could be interpreted as animals having ways to get food sources using different ways, and each generation the individuals that were not able to get sufficient food died off. In this way, it is ensured that there will be more individuals that can get enough food easier in the next generation. This is the theory of natural selection in it's simplest form.

Even though I already knew about the theory of natural selection, this gave me a few new insights. Obviously, it helped me understand natural selection more clearly by having a reflection of it in real life. More importantly, I think that Natural Selection actually influences our lives in a very strange way. For instance, technology evolves in a manner similar to Natural Selection. It starts with the technology that started it all, and other offspring continue from it. The successful functions continue on while the less popular functions are replaced.

To conclude, I think that Natural Selection doesn't only apply to nature - it applies to real life as well, in ways you might not think of.

-Joseph

Nathan

11/20/2018 05:30:41 pm

Great Job Joseph, I really liked how you used a writing tip. Start from an exciting point and back fill.

Ester

11/20/2018 06:12:46 pm

10/10, Joseph always has the best writing *claps*

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 06:35:42 pm

@ Joseph

The idea of technology being part of natural selection is a very interesting analogy. Can you elaborate on your technology analogy by giving an example? What is the determining factor for which technology survives? What would the appendage be? can you relate this directly to the simulation?

Hhhhhhhmmmmm...very interesting!

Joseph

11/20/2018 07:20:48 pm

I was specifically thinking about the iPhone. That would be the last common ancestor for our modern phones (yes I realize that there were earlier ones but this is a good one for an example), while it's features would be it's "appendages". Food would be the money that it would gain from selling.

For instance, the iPhone introduced several new technologies to the mobile device market. Such as, the home button and scrolling. Those "appendages" continued on to this day and survived through new generations of phones. However "appendages" such as the headphone jack are slowly being phased out.

I realize this isn't a direct comparison but I did think it was close and interesting enough to note.

-Joseph

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 07:44:50 pm

@ Joseph

Nice! What determines whether the phone lives or dies?

Joseph

11/20/2018 07:51:49 pm

When I was thinking about this I believe I considered "product success" as the measure of whether a technology lived or died. For instance, I would consider Cassette recorders "extinct", but they had a great success; I would even go so far as to compare them to the Neanderthals, which thrived in their environment for quite a while yet went extinct due to a new species (CD players for the cassettes, or us in the case of neanderthals) replacing it.

In simplest terms I think that if a phone sells enough that it covers all costs directly and indirectly in it's production it could be considered as living.

-Joseph

Joseph

11/20/2018 07:53:33 pm

I just reread the comments on my post and it's funny to see how I went from a simple theory about Natural Selection applying to technology into a comment about what makes a phone living or dead.

It was certainly an interesting connection for me though, thanks for the questions that helped me think deeper about this Mr. Fisher!

-Joseph

Sarah

11/20/2018 05:31:33 pm

5th

Sarah

11/20/2018 09:59:33 pm

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 11:19:45 am

@Sarah

Can you give an example of how this might work with organisms in an ecosystem?

Sarah

11/21/2018 04:20:01 pm

This would work with an organism for example if their are seven bugs three are green like leave's and four are grey the chances are that the green bugs will live longer and not get eaten by other animals. the green bugs will later reproduces and will probably re produce with other green bugs making their off spring more likely to be green and not grey making their off spring more likely to survive.

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 07:50:52 pm

@Sarah
Thanks Sarah. Good example.

Sarah

11/21/2018 08:21:25 pm

Today in class we simulated natural selection. We were given their chopsticks, forks, knives or spoons to pick up beans on a forty five second timer. In the forty five seconds we had to use the objects we were given and put as meany beans in a dish as possible. Which ever groups got the most beans survived and who go the least didn't. This explains natural selection because when natural selection happens the strongest of the population or off spring service and the weakest don't. The game we did in class works with natural selection because the people with chop sticks and knives had more of a challenge making the people with the chopsticks and knives fail and pass away and the forks and spoons thrive. The theory of natural selection means to take the stronger or more likely to survive out of a group and have them thrive, and the rest pass away.
This would work with an organism for example if their are seven bugs three are green like leave's and four are grey the chances are that the green bugs will live longer and not get eaten by other animals. the green bugs will later reproduces and will probably re produce with other green bugs making their off spring more likely to be green and not grey making their off spring more likely to survive.

Serin

11/20/2018 05:33:02 pm

@Mr. Fisher, wait when it means by this week it means like this week Monday and Tuesday or like allll of the pars?

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 05:36:58 pm

Start with this week if you missed some! Then try and keep up!

vincent qi

11/20/2018 05:42:30 pm

The simulation we did today was about natural selection. Only the ones best adapted could survive. Everyone was assigned one way of eating food, and we would see which group could survive the longest. Chopsticks got eliminated instantly, where as forks and spoons made it all he way.

The simulation was an example of natural selection. Everyone was a species, where we all had to eat food to suvivre. After we finished this activity, I got a better understanding of Natural selection. I learned an example of natural selection, and I got a deeper understanding of it.

Ester

11/20/2018 06:11:25 pm

Maybe you could explain the activity with better detail to help the reader better understand your thinking. Otherwise, you did a great job.

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 06:38:16 pm

@ Vincent

I agree with Ester. This post is very general. It needs details added to understand what we actually did.

Also, the ending does fit the criteria. Please revise this, Vincent and show us your best work:)

vincent qi

11/20/2018 08:51:08 pm

The simulation we did today was about Natural selection. Only the ones best adapted species could survive; in today's simulation, the best adapted species would be the best appendage at obtaining food. Everyone was assigned one appendage for obtaining food (beans), groups would try to meet the requirements for the activity.

The results of the activity were self-explanatory, chopsticks got eliminated instantly for they were the hardest to control. Knives were striving through the game, but their population diminished as the number of species in other groups increased. The fittest appendages of the activity were forks and spoons. In the final round, forks and spoons were tied. Forks have lost one member of the specie where as spoons lost three. However both these groups outlived the others.

The activity explained Natural selection in this way, when one species is not adapted (in our case, an appendage that is hard to use like the chopsticks) it will go extinct. However, another species that is more/ well adapted will survive the needs, therefore, reproducing. As a result of this activity, I have gained a deeper understanding of Natural selection such as examples and how all animals on earth are already adapted.

Mountain

11/20/2018 05:48:24 pm

Today Ms. Chohan and the class did a simulation of what natural selection looks like.

What we did was that every body had either a fork, spoon, knife, or chopsticks. There were a pile of beans on the middle of the table and we had 45 seconds t get as many beans into our pantry try as possible. Each hand had to have an utensil. The result were that the chopsticks went extinct because they collected the last amount of beans.If you had a more than two people surviving then they can "produce" to get a new utensils. At the end the spoons had the most even though I think that at the end forks will eventually outlast the spoons. This activity showed us what natural selection might of actually been like. I learned during this activity that natural selection is the creature with more offspring and are better adapted to the environment or tasks will survive.
What the theory of natural selection is that it is always a struggle for animals to survive because only the strongest, smartest and most well adapted animals will survive.

"Survival of the fittest"
- Charles Darwin

Ester

11/20/2018 07:15:49 pm

As I have said for everyone else, please try to use multiple paragraphs. For your last criteria point, please add more context to better understand your thinking. Overall, Marvelous Job Mountain!

Mountain

11/20/2018 07:43:05 pm

Today Ms. Chohan and the class did a simulation of what natural selection looks like.

What we did was that every body had either a fork, spoon, knife, or chopsticks. There were a pile of beans on the middle of the table and we had 45 seconds t get as many beans into our pantry try as possible. Each hand had to have an utensil.

The result were that the chopsticks went extinct because they collected the last amount of beans.If you had a more than two people surviving then they can "produce" to get a new utensils. At the end the spoons had the most even though I think that at the end forks will eventually outlast the spoons.

This activity showed us what natural selection might of actually been like. I learned during this activity that natural selection is the creature with more offspring and are better adapted to the environment or tasks will survive. Unfortunately this also applies to human society.

What the theory of natural selection is that it is always a struggle for animals to survive because only the strongest, smartest and most well adapted animals will survive.

"Survival of the fittest"
- Charles Darwin

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 11:28:26 am

@Mountain

Good revision. I wonder what your theory is for the forks surviving?

Do you have an example of an animal that may have adapted over time to help it survive?

Mr. Hong

11/20/2018 05:59:01 pm

@ Everyone - I was really impressed to see how you were able to make your thinking visible on your handouts! BRAVO! BRAVO!

Ester

11/20/2018 06:10:00 pm

Thank you! *bows*

Ester

11/20/2018 06:09:07 pm

Today we did a simulation to better understated what natural selection is. There were to base populations, in this instance food utensils such as, forks, spoon, knives and chopsticks. people were assigned to a utensil and used that utensil on both hands to simulate different body parts on animals to try to feed themselves. The utensils will act as a claw to try grab white beans into a tray to find out if that body part (utensil in this case) can help the animal (the person holding the utensils) eat food and survive.

People tried to transfer beans into the tray in 45 seconds and trying to get as many beans as the could one bean at a time. Then, two people went around and collected the number of beans the have acquired and averaged it out with this formula: forks+spoon+chopsticks+knives = (a)/2 = (b). Then, they took the utensils from people who has acquired beans lower then the average score. This acts like nature taking out the animals that are the weakest. Then, we did it again with the same process. At the end one population was extinct.

After that activity, natural selection is basic survival skills to me. When a variation of a organism doesn't have the skills or body form to help them survive, nature just takes them out.This would actually help reproduce better, suitable off springs. With better off springs, the better the specific specie would live for generations to generations. Thus, leading to less of a possibility of extinction.

Len

11/20/2018 07:26:42 pm

Honestly no mistakes and if I wasn't there and if I read this than I would understand it perfectly. Good Job!

Ester

11/20/2018 08:47:44 pm

Thank you!

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 07:08:25 am

@Ester. Great job explaining the natural selection activity, and how it was decided who died and who went on.
It looks like I could have explained the equation better. You have the right idea. We were looking for the average amount of food collected.
The equation in its simplest form is:
All the food collected / number of students collecting food
Thanks for thinking to add that detail.

Kheyria

11/20/2018 06:43:13 pm

Today we did a natural selection simulation using beans and eating utensils. How it works is each of us gets into equal groups and is handed either a pair of spoons, forks, knives, or chopsticks. In this case, we got into groups of 6, but there was an uneven number of students so the remaining got to go around the class and record the number of beans everyone got into their patry dish. The objective is to get as many beans as you can into your patry dish while sitting with your group and holding your utensils in either hand. You will only get one type of utensil. Each utensil is a species. The rules are that u don't use your hands, you can only take one bean at a time, and you MUST have a utensil in each hand. You only have 45 seconds to collect as many beans as you can and you only start when the timer goes off. At the end the remaining students record the number of beans you collected with your utensils and calculate the average number of beans collected. Anyone who didn't meet the average number of beans collected would go extinct (as in natural selection). The remaining students would then record the number of utensils that went extinct and subtract them by the population of their species. For example, we could start out with a population of 8 pairs of chopsticks but then have 3 of them not collect enough beans to survive. The new population would be 5 pairs of chopsticks. We keep doing this until you find the utensil best used for picking beans. In conclusion, I feel that the theory of natural selection is quite reasonable but hard to get into detail.

Ester

11/20/2018 07:12:49 pm

Some spelling mistakes and please use multiple paragraphs when writing/typing. Otherwise, Great Job Kheyria!

jedd

11/20/2018 06:48:05 pm

Testing the best stratagy for picing up beans. Numbers flyng through my face. aha!!

So today we did a simulation of natural selection.
what we were sopused to do was pick up as many white beans as we can in 45 seconds. We had to use diffirent utensils like spoons forks, chopsticks and knifes.

so we looked to see which group would thrive if they were predator's
(their was also a average and if you were below you would have died.) if their was two people they would have reproduce.

after this thing that we did I think that natural selection is based on wether you are fit to survive or have the skills to at least.

Ester

11/20/2018 06:52:42 pm

If you look at Vincent's post, you did the same mistake as him. Jedd please stretch your thinking more and add more details to your paragraph. Otherwise, good job!

Krizia

11/20/2018 09:48:44 pm

Jedd don’t forget to add capitals in the beginning of your sentences. And yes, as Esters saying, try adding more detail.

Vivian

11/20/2018 06:58:21 pm

This morning, Ms.Chohan taught the class what natural selection is like.Using the examples or forks, spoons, knifes and chopsticks.

We were all given a utensil, it’s either a spoon,fork,knife or chopsticks. We were all gathered at a table and try to get as much beans as we can on the table. The rule is that you have to have 2 of the same utensils on both of your hands and can only take one bean at a time with the utensils. We each get 45sec. to get the beans in our dish and then count it after. Sadly the chopsticks went extinct, because they collected the least amount of beans out of the other utensils. The rest of the surviving groups “reproduced” new children/utensils. But at last forks and spoon were tied at the end leaving 2 knifes at the end. We can’t go back in time to see natural selection, but this is another way to see it. During this lesson I learned that if a organism can’t get the source it needs to survive then they die or become extinct. Us humans have the smartest minds, scientists find new things to help us survive and doctors cure illnesses. So that’s why we have been here for so long!

Ester

11/20/2018 07:11:09 pm

Some spelling mistakes here and there and please try to use multiple paragraph to make it easier to understand. Other than that, excellent job!

Vivian

11/21/2018 08:33:18 am

Thank you Ester for the feedback, here is the revised version.

This morning, Ms.Chohan taught the class what natural selection is like.Using the examples or forks, spoons, knifes and chopsticks.

We were all given a utensil, it’s either a spoon,fork,knife or chopsticks. We were all gathered at a table and try to get as much beans as we can on the table. The rule is that you have to have 2 of the same utensils on both of your hands and can only take one bean at a time with the utensils. We each get 45sec. to get the beans in our dish and then count it after. Sadly the chopsticks went extinct, because they collected the least amount of beans out of the other utensils. The rest of the surviving groups “reproduced” new children/utensils.

But at last forks and spoon were tied at the end leaving 2 knifes at the end. We can’t go back in time to see natural selection, but this is another way to see it.

During this lesson I learned that if a organism can’t get the source it needs to survive then they die or become extinct.

Us humans have the smartest minds, scientists find new things to help us survive and doctors cure illnesses. So that’s why we have been here for so long!

Len

11/20/2018 07:21:42 pm

Today we did a simulation to manipulate natural selection to see and learn how it works. To do the simulation there are forks, spoons, knives and chopsticks. We each get two of either 4 and you have to collect peas like your an animal trying to eat. So for example I was given two knives and you have to put each one in one hand and to make it harder/challenging you can only eat/collect one at a time. For each utensil there 6 people with them. We get 45 seconds to collect as much peas as you can then after few selected people write down how many you got. Then they calculate the average number of peas collected. Who ever did not make the score will be "extinct" But if you did survive you live. If only one person survives it can not reproduce and make offspring. But if 2 people survive they can reproduce and make offspring to expand their population. To live you have to adapt which is natural selection. This simulation explains natural selection because the successful people with there utensils that are useful to pick up peas adapt and survive to make offspring. The non surviving utensils can barely survive because they're not adapting . this is natural selection.

len

11/20/2018 07:23:43 pm

my conclusion of natural selection is that natural selection is why most organisms are here and it is one of the main source of evolution.

Len

11/20/2018 07:28:08 pm

Mr.fisher should I do the pars of the days that I wasn't here.

Mr. Fisher

11/20/2018 10:51:49 pm

@Len

You do not need to, but please make sure you review/learn any concepts you missed while away.

Lucas

11/20/2018 07:32:08 pm

I was late for school and missed the first 30 mins of the simulation so if I miss anything I'm sorry.

The simulation we did today was using Chopsticks, forks, spoons and knives to see which was best for putting beans in a cup. 6 people got different utensils to use. If you put less than the average amount of beans in the cup within the time limit you were eliminated. What happened was all of the chopsticks were out in the first round which proved chopsticks are not good at lifting beans into a cup. we reproduced the people that had chopsticks into other utensils and did the round again. In the next round the average was over 3x higher because there was no chopsticks. This relates to natural selection because different utensils survived and others didn't. The utensils that didn't survive reproduced into the others. there was only 2 rounds but the utensils will probably keep going extinct and reproducing if there were more rounds.

Lucas

11/20/2018 07:42:50 pm

Natural Selection means to me species going extinct and reproducing into other species.

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 04:02:42 pm

@ Lucas

You did well to explain things for coming in after we were going.

Can you explain why the species go extinct and reproduce?

taya

11/20/2018 07:45:07 pm

today we did natural selections experiment. we had forks, spoons, knives and chopsticks, but there is a catch, we have to use our tools to put beans in a container.
we started of as 6 chopsticks 6 spoons 6 forks 6 knifes and at the end we ware left with 0 chopsticks knifes 9 spoons 9 forks. it teaches me that you need to be the best to survive anywhere until you'd be left with the ones that are the on most likely to survive

Ester

11/20/2018 08:49:23 pm

Please extend your paragraphs and thinking. Make sure you put capitals in the right place. You are almost there Taya!

Jorge

11/20/2018 07:46:35 pm

Today's simulation was about natural selection. We used spoons, forks, knives and chopsticks. The simulation was to see which type of utensil worked best for collecting food. By the end of the simulation the most useful utensil were the spoon and the fork. This is a great example of natural selection because some utensil didn't work as well as the others. After this activity I think that the theory of natural selection is definitely true and proved.

vincent qi

11/20/2018 08:54:16 pm

You should add more to your paragraphs. Also remember to add "s" after if you are using plural nouns.

Matthew

11/20/2018 08:03:16 pm

The simulation that we did involved forks, spoons, knives and chopsticks. We had to get as many beans as we could and put them into our separate bowl and we had to get the most in 45 seconds. WE would then add up all the beans collected over 28 ( the people in the class.) Then we would find the average and anyone below the average would give their utensils away. For the survivors, every pair would reproduce one offspring and we would see which utensil has the most chance to survive. The results: Forks were the most successful and spoons were right behind. Knives were third and chopsticks were extinct. This helped us understand natural selection more better as we saw the utensils that had less of a chance living go extinct and utensils that had higher chances to thrive were making offspring. This proves that nature choses certain animals to benefit the species.

Annabelle

11/20/2018 09:25:10 pm

Matthew, I do not think that "more better" are good words to use. Maybe try "better" to describe what you are trying to say. I am not sure if you answered the question "After completing this activity, what does the theory of natural selection mean to you?". Other than that, nice job!

Nathan

11/20/2018 08:08:15 pm

Honestly, I really enjoyed the activity that Ms.Chohan did with us. Thank You Ms.Chohan!

Jafeth

11/20/2018 08:48:08 pm

we did a simulation game it involved spoons, forks, knives and chopsticks we had to get as many white beans in 45 seconds and you
only can get one at a time Into a bowl. we had in the beginning 6 people and in the beginning we had to get 10 beans in the bowl but the
chopsticks no one got 10 in their bowl so they got extinct and they and the people how got extinct where add it to the spoons, forks and knives and how many people are in your group than you have more change to survive. The forks where the most successful and the
spoons where very close behind and the knives where very close of
beinng extinct this help me understand simulation more.

Owen

11/20/2018 08:53:48 pm

Well, i was very sad that my chopstick family die at FIRST. i thought i can get at least, like 20.
guess what i got 7...... BUT
I HAVE MY REVENGE.
So how this fun simulation work.... We have 4 tools for us to pick the white bean up, and all of us will have a plate( A MOTH......) and you have to hold your tool with two hand, and pick the bean up from the table, For the tools, WE have: fork ,spoon, chopstick( eliminated by FORK) and knife.
After Jorge and Ester hand out the tool to everyone, we will get the sheet to record the population of the 4 tool, after that the game started.
i thought it was super easy, and i told Ms Chohan that i am gonna get like a lot of bean.( actually 7 is a lot,cough cough, at least Oven agreed with me) at the first round all the chopstick got eliminated by the fork and spoon. ( :( :( :( :( )
okay fine... After that at the second game i got switch to the knife, and the second game, in our group they just moved all the beans from the center to my side( i think is because some people on the side can not reach,) ( But why do you move it right beside your moth?) QUITE OVEN.
After two game we then found the average of the population then we compare them. the fork is so successful.
And after we collated the average, we can reproduce, and get one more fork or spoon, after we start thinking that what will happen next .
so why this is kinda like a natural selection, is because the natural select some animal to eat the other, some animal might be easier to eat other.
like the spoon will be hard to pick look stick, and the fork was very easy.

Oven

11/20/2018 08:54:52 pm

I never said that i AGREED with you, so i am gonna be a mean guy, and not give FEEDBACK
lol

vincent qi

11/20/2018 08:56:25 pm

Very funny story.

Oven

11/20/2018 09:09:11 pm

nope, how do you find it funny
what?????

Jessica

11/20/2018 08:58:36 pm

Today we did a simulation, to better understand the concept of natural selection. We were all given one out of four kinds of utensil(knife, fork, spoon, or chopsticks) and some beans and by using the utensils, to grab as many beans as you can. After each round, we would count our beans and calculate the average amount we need to survive. People who gets more than the average, moves forward to the next round. For example, during the first round, chopsticks wasn’t able to get enough beans, making chopsticks become extinct. Forks, spoons, and knives that had pairs were able to reproduce and produce offsprings. At the end, forks and spoons tied while knives were a little behind and chopsticks extinct.
This activity has given me a more clear overview of what natural selection is. I understand that natural selection is like basic survival skills. Various organisms don’t have the skill or ability to help adapt to their environment and to survive. Because of this fact, some organisms die out, while others adapt to its surroundings and reproduce.

Tom

11/20/2018 09:10:22 pm

The simulation that we did today was where we there will be 4 different types of tools, there will be 24 organisms in total and everybody in the classroom will get something, and there will be white beans spread among the table and you would have to get the bean into your mouth one at a time, in 45 minutes the time will end and someone will come around and record the scores for each tools. After the first round chopsticks became extinct and other organism started reproducing. What this means to me is that there are some organisms that have more difficulties to survive than others.

Krizia

11/20/2018 09:11:50 pm

Today we did a natural selection simulation. Our goal was to pick up as many beans as we can and put it in our dish with the utensils we had. We had only 45 seconds to do this. After that, we counted how many beans we were able to collect with our utensils and calculated them to an average. With things calculated, we could see which utensils were best. The better utensils had a higher chance of surviving in their terms rather than the ones that didn’t work as best. Ones that didn’t work as well, will go extinct. Nature picks the best choices because they are more adapted and can survive better. Then, they have a higher chance of survival.

David

11/20/2018 09:17:55 pm

After discovering the beauty of forks and spoons, I immediately chucked away my old habits with chopsticks. Well, I guess I paid the price for it right now. My motor skills are terrible, and even with a spoon I had a hard time picking even one green bean.

Today, we explained natural selection in a fun and interesting way. There were four different utensils: forks, knives, chopsticks, and last but not least, spoons. Instead of typing out what the game objective is, I am going to explain it in a scenario.

Now imagine a scenario in which there were there were four types of birds, each one had a different utensil in its mouth. In order to survive, each of the four types of birds had to get at least ten beans in its mouth. The one with the chopsticks, (as in the game) dies of in the first round, having failed its objective.

The spoons and the forks all prospered greatly, and because of this, they are both growing in numbers. The birds with the knives in its mouth are in third place, having a stable, yet not prosperous number.

Soon, you could see that the the chopsticks that would be extinct. "Nature" doesn't use this modification anymore. It just discards it. However, with the spoon and fork, you could see that it is useful, and nature would keep this appendix, and modify it.

Its funny because, life's not fair doesn't always apply to humans. In fact, it plays a big role in the ecosystem. If you have a good quality, everyone is going to like you, if you have defunct or not perfect appendix, well, your useless.

Joseph

11/20/2018 09:33:18 pm

I really liked your explanation of the simulation! However, I found a grammar mistake in the last sentence :P

"if you have defunct or not perfect appendix"
should be
"if you have a defunct or imperfect appendix"

and
"well, your useless"
should be
"well, you're useless"

Nothing else to add on top of that, good job on the writing!

Annabelle

11/20/2018 09:18:00 pm

I slowly picked the bean with chopsticks and dropped into the petri dish. The alarm went off and I put my chopsticks down.

Ms. Chohan put lots of beans on the table as we all waited eagerly to do a simulation of natural selection. She handed out 6 pairs of spoons, 6 pairs of chopsticks,6 pairs of forks and 6 pairs of knives.
Each student received a pair of utensil, a petri dish and a paper to record. The students who didn't get a utensil helped Ms. Chohan record data. The utensils simulated organisms that eat prey. The beans were the prey for the organisms. The rules were simple, no cheating, 1 utensil in each hand only, you can only pick up one bean at a time, and have fun. We had forty-five to pick as many beans and put them in our dish as we could. Unfortunately, after the first round/generation, all students using chopsticks got eliminated because they didn't pick enough beans to feed themselves. The chopstick population got extinct. There were 5 forks, 5 knives, and 6 spoons that survived after the first round. To make this simulation more realistic, every two utensils that survived meant an offspring. At the end of round two, Spoons and forks had the same population and knives were behind.

This simulation explained that only the organisms suited for the environment get to live. The other organisms will have a hard time surviving. Students using chopsticks struggled when picking up the beans as for the people using spoons, they found picking beans very easy. I realized that animals not only have to be adapted to their habitat but to also be good at finding food (and eating it).

After this activity, my understanding of the theory has not changed, but my understanding of the theory of natural selection has deepened.

Joseph

11/20/2018 09:31:11 pm

Nice job overall!

However, I feel that you went too far with the explanation of what the simulation was and too little with your own thinking. If I were you, I would cut down on the explanation of the simulation and more about how your thinking about natural selection has changed.

Nothing else to add though, great job!

Sophie

11/20/2018 10:04:35 pm

Great job Annabelle!
In your conclusion, maybe add detail on how your understanding has deepended, and what changed

Kaden

11/20/2018 09:54:04 pm

Today in the morning we did a activity which made us use utensil and which made us pick up beans with one utensils and to put it on the Parish dish. Also, for science today we had to wait before Ms. Chohan to give instructions to the class. Later we had to count how many beans we got in the Parish dish and we had to see which utensils got extinct and which are still surviving. Afterwards we did a another round and we were counting our beans and we had to see which utensils was extinct and which ones are surviving During the activity Ms. Chohan ask us to predict which ones is going to be extinct and which one survived.

Kaden

DON'T COPY

Sophie

11/20/2018 10:01:20 pm

Today, Ms. Chohan planned an activity for us about teaching us natural selection. She placed a bunch of tiny white beans on our desks and gave us a Petri dish. At random, we were given either spoons, forks, knives, or chopsticks. 2 utensils, one in each hand.

The four different utensils represented something that we used to eat with, and the beans represented the food. The Petri dish represented our mouths. We started with 6 for each. 6 forks, 6 spoons, 6 knives and of course 6 chopsticks. So we were off, Ms. Chohan counted 3,2,1 and we grabbed our utensils and tried to grab the beans.

Once the timer was up, we counted. The people who didn’t have utensils helped Ms. Chohan with the calculations and such. They collected everyone’s data and made an average. For the first “generation” it was 10.

All the chopsticks were extinct the first round, the knives had 5 people left, and could reproduce into 7 people. Same with the forks. The spoons got 6, and could reproduce to 9.

Second generation starts with 7 knives, 7 forks, and 9 spoons. It ends, with the average being 30.(I think?) It ended with 2 knives, 4 forks, and 4 spoons. Reproducing, it was 4 knives, 6 forks and 6 spoons.

Overall, after this activity it helped me a bit on understanding natural selection. It shows that if a certain species can’t change, or don’t have the right things to eat / survive, they’ll be “taken” out, or go extinct. Or, they’ll change and be able to adapt to their climate.

Serin

11/20/2018 10:02:30 pm

Today we did a simulation, to better understand the concept of Natrual selection. We each got a 1 pair of utensils (forks, chopsticks, spoons, and knives)(6 for every utensil) we were trying to get as many beans into our Petri dish in 45 seconds with only our utensil and picking up the beans 1 at a time. Each rounds we would see which pair of utensil altogether had the lowest number of beans and we would put that utensil in extinct. So on and on we added more pairs of the utensil that got the highest score to all of the extinct utensil.

This helped us understand better because every animal or organism has a habitat and what changes it effects the organism and it could go extinct if the habitat is not for the suit of the organism. So it will be hard for the organism to live in that habitat so they could go extinct.

If that makes any sense.😊

KADEN

11/20/2018 10:15:03 pm

the result for the simulation is that we had to see which utensil is extinct and which are still surviving. the theory of the Natural selection explains it because the theory of the natural selection is the natural selection of different survival and reproduction of individuals due to different characteristic of a population over the generations. In conclusion of the natural selection is that the theory of the Natural selection explains it because the theory of the natural selection is the natural selection of different survival and reproduction of individuals due to different characteristic of a population over the generations.

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 03:17:50 pm

@Kaden

Can you explain what we did during the simulation?

What did we use to represent the different characteristics?

Ivan

11/20/2018 11:01:44 pm

today we did a simulation to understand natural selection using forks,chopsticks,spoons, and knives. how we did it was basically you had a bunch of tiny beans in the middle and using your cutlery you must get as many beans as possible in 45 seconds. after you tally up all of your points and if you got over the average amount then you are safe. however if you didnt your type of cutlery might go extinct. this translates in real life because different animals and hunt different things so if they cant get enough food to eat then they will die. i was on the spoon team and even though this may have seen easy it was a lot harder then i expected it to be. the chopstick team came in last because it was very difficult to use chopsticks with one in each hand. i think overall this game helped me understand natural selection a lot more since it was a different way to look at it.

Breanna

11/21/2018 08:15:14 am

@ Ivan (don’t mind I’m from the other class)
Remember to capitalize the beginning of your paragraph! Overall I could understand your thinking, good job!

Ms. Chohan

11/21/2018 11:45:18 am

@Ivan

Good explanation of the activity and how we determined who went on and who became extinct.

Can you give me an example from real life and how an animal might adapt?

Nick

11/22/2018 05:47:47 pm

We did an activity today that Mrs Chohan made us use forks to collect little tiny kidney beans into a little plate. We had chopsticks,knives, and forks, and spoons. The chopsticks died first then we lost knives an then forks and spoons had a battle.Now i know that the animals that adapts better to its environment survives better.

nick

11/22/2018 05:55:40 pm

Chopsticks died faster because there where to much of a hassle to use and knives died not to long after since they where as hard to control. But Owen was going through the beans really quickly and i thought he cheated and i was correct since many people caught him cheating.

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