Charles Darwin: Who Wants to Live a Million Years? (Natural Selection Game) | Online Simulation
- May 2, 2020
- 2 minutes read - 256 words
Overview
This is a short, but fun game to demonstrate how natural selection works. In the game, you are able to randomly generate different types of bird-like species with the goal of surviving 1 million years of catastrophes, predators, etc. Depending on your pacing, this can work as an introduction to natural selection or a brief review of the concept.
Materials
Internet access and worksheet print outs (can be done digitally as well)
Resources
Pacing
Suggested Pacing
Day 1 - model how to navigate the game | play game and review questions
Pacing w/ Teacher Notes
Day 1 - Before class, I recommend sharing the link on any class website. The game itself is relatively straightforward, and students tend to want to jump in right away. I personally show the students how to navigate the website on my projector and show the features they could use (e.g. mutations, hints, etc.).
After a brief introduction, I let them try to figure out how to beat the game. I also ask them to beat it more than once, so it is less likely that they win based on luck. This is a good opportunity to let students work at their own pace and I can roam around to help clarify questions as they play. At the end, I have my students share their answers on the board if they finished early and we can review the questions as a class.
Credits: Game created by Swarm Interactive, Inc.
