Survival of the Fittest Lab

Objective: To simulate the process of natural selection using various backgrounds anddifferent colored beans.

Materials:20 black beans20 white beans20 kidney beansBlack construction paperGreen construction paperWhite construction paper

Procedure:1. Place all of the beans onto the white construction paper.2. Both students in the group will close their eyes for 15 seconds. After 15 seconds,

open your eyes and pick up the first bean that you see and place it aside. Closeyour eyes and count to 10. Open them and grab the first bean you see. Do this 10times.

3. When you are done, count the beans remaining on the white paper. Record theinformation in your data table. Then count the beans that you picked off of theconstruction paper. Fill in the numbers in the data chart provided.

4. Now place the beans onto the black construction paper. Repeat steps 2 and 3.5. Place the beans onto the green construction paper. Repeat steps 2 and 3.6. Clean up your work area and answer the questions below.7. Make a comparative bar graph to show how your results differed for each trial.

Answer the following questions:1. On the white construction paper, which bean “survived” the best? Why did this

bean survive the best?2. On the green background, which bean “survived” the best? Why do you think

this bean was a survivor?3. On the green background, which bean “survived” the worst? Why didn’t this

bean survive?4. What would eventually happen to the population of the beans that did not

“survive?” Why?5. On the black background, which bean “survived” the best? Was it the same or

different than the bean that survived on the green background? Why do you thinkthis is so? Explain.

6. How does this lab simulate the process of natural selection?

Survival of the FittestData Table

White Paper Black Paper Green PaperBlack Beans

InitialBlack Beans

InitialBlack Beans

InitialBlack Beans

RemovedBlack Beans

RemovedBlack Beans

RemovedBlack BeansRemaining

Black BeansRemaining

Black BeansRemaining

White BeansInitial

White BeansInitial

White BeansInitial

White BeansRemoved

White BeansRemoved

White BeansRemoved

White BeansRemaining

White BeansRemaining

White BeansRemaining

KidneyBeans Initial

KidneyBeans Initial

KidneyBeans Initial

KidneyBeans

Removed

KidneyBeans

Removed

KidneyBeans

RemovedKidneyBeans

Remaining

KidneyBeans

Remaining

KidneyBeans

Remaining