Sara Taylor

Lab Report
1. Natural Selection:
2. Introduction
a. Darwin came to the Galapagos Islands and discovered different looking birds. Darwin
did not know why they looked different or how they became to look different. While
studying them Darwin found out that these birds developed different because of the fruit
they decided to eat. Each of these birds had different beaks for the different fruit they
ingested. Long, pointed beaks made some of them more fit for picking
seeds out of cactus fruits. Shorter, stouter beaks served best for
eating seeds found on the ground. Eventually, the immigrants
evolved into 14 separate species, each with its own song, food
preferences, and beak shapes (William J Cromie, A genes-eye of evolution).
This was such an interesting thing to find out. Evolution is so special because of how
much it helps any kind of species.
b. Hypothesis.
i. My hypothesis was that the tweezers would be the best beak type and the large
hair clips would be the worst beak type.
ii. I developed this hypothesis because I knew how easy it was to use tweezers and
they are something both boys and girls use so they can get the hang of it faster
than most of the other materials that were given.
3. Materials and Methods
a. The materials used for this experiment were tongs, chopsticks, clothes pins, large hair
clips, tweezers, binder clips, small hair clips, chip clip, paper cups, and sunflower seeds.
b. In the beginning there were two tongs given to two students, five chopsticks, five
clothes pins, five large hair clips, five tweezers, five binder clips, five small hair clips
and then eventually there was a mutation and the chip clip was introduced. The object
of the experiment was to go as fast as you can in a minute to see how many sunflower
seeds you could pick up (one at a time) and put into your paper cup. Once the minute
was up there were three losers picked from the class and three winners picked. The
losers got their tools taken and given the winners tools. It was interesting to see the
winners and the losers each time because sometimes they were some of the same people
with the same tools.
4. Results
Beak
Types:
Tongs

Chopstick
s
Clothes
Pins

Beginnin R 1
g
#2
#2
Freq: 6.25 Freq:
6.25
#5
#7
Freq:
Freq:
15.625
21.875
#5
#3
Freq:
Freq:
15.625
9.375

R2

R3

R4

R5

#2
Freq:
6.25
#6
Freq:
18.75
#4
Freq:
12.5

#2
Freq:
6.25
#5
Freq:
15.625
#4
Freq:
12.5

#2
Freq:
6.25
#5
Freq:
15.625
#5
Freq:
15.625

#1
Freq: 3.125
#4
Freq:
12.5
#6
Freq:
18.75

Large Hair
Clips

#5
Freq:
15.625
Tweezers
#5
Freq:
15.625
Binder
#5
Freq:
Clips
15.625
Small Hair #5
Clips
Freq:
15.625
Chip Clip Not in

#5
Freq:
15.625
#6
Freq:
18.75
#4
Freq:
12.5
#5
Freq:
15.625

#4
Freq:
12.5
#7
Freq:
21.875
#3
Freq:
9.375
#5
Freq:
15.625

#4
Freq:
12.5
#8
Freq:
25
#3
Freq:
9.375
#5
Freq:
15.625

#4
Freq:
12.5
#9
Freq:
28.125
#2
Freq:
6.25
#4
Freq:
12.5

#4
Freq:
12.5
#10
Freq:
31.25
#2
Freq:
6.25
#4
Freq:
12.5

Not in

#1
Freq:
3.125

#1
Freq:
3.125

#1
Freq:
3.125

#1
Freq:
3.125

a.
b.

Chart Title
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Beginning

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

c. Tongs stayed the same with the number of two until the very end when they lost one.
Chopsticks started at five and increased by two decreased one and then stayed the same
until the last round where they decreased one again. Clothes pins started at five
decreased two gained one for two rounds then gained another one and then gained
another one so they were at six by the end. Large hair clips started at five and by the
second round they went to four and stayed at four the rest of the game. Tweezers started
at five and increased one throughout the entire game. Binder clips started at five,
decreased one the second round decreased another for round two and three and then the
last two rounds stayed at two. Binder clips started at five and stayed at five until round
four and five the decreased one. The Chip Clip was the class mutation and started in
round two, it never increased or decreased.
5. Conclusion

a. My hypothesis was correct because I said that the tweezers would be the most effect
beak type and they proved to be.
b. The tweezers increased one each round. They proved to be the most efficient way to
pick up sunflower seed successfully.
c. I think competitiveness had a lot to do with the tweezers winning. I was very
competitive and so was another girl that was on the tweezers team and she won every
single time.
d. Each time this experiment was replicated the results varied. Whenever scientist repeat
an experiment the results can change each time because of outside and inside factors. I
think if our class repeated this experiment some of the results would be different. I think
the experiment depends on the people conducting the experiment and the people that are
participating in the experiment.
6. Discussion
a. The scientific method is a method to help scientist collect data. The first thing you do in
the scientific method is form a hypothesis or an educated guess, the next is to collect
data to support or reject your hypothesis, the next is to accept or reject your hypothesis
with the data you collected, the last step is to either revise your hypothesis or draw
conclusions.
b. There are many fields that could use the scientific method. Psychology being one.
Psychologists a lot of time do not know the answer right away. They have to guess and
check to see if they need research further or stop there because they were correct the
first time. Another field that uses the scientific method is math. In math it is important
to support your answer or show your work, the scientific method can be very efficient in
math.
c. We used the scientific method in this activity because we first proposed which tool
would be the best beak. Then we collected data and showed our evidence and then at the
end when we discovered the best beak type we either rejected our hypothesis or drew
conclusions from it.
d. Evolution by natural selection is favorable variation will increase in frequency in
population. The underlying assumptions include variation, inheritance, competition,
differential reproductive success.
e. This activity supported natural selection because we had three winners each round and
they produced an offspring each time so the tool that won the most had the most
offspring in the end. This is natural selection because it proves that the favorable
offspring which was the tweezers, increased in frequency in population.
7. References
Cromie J, William. A Genes-Eye View of Evolution. Harvards News Office, July 24,
2006.