![]() Based on my work, I noted the following effective teaching practices: I also studied student learning and teaching practices to support student learning with such models. When students perform computational experiments using the phenomenon of changes in populations of rock pocket mice in different environmental conditions, they develop mechanistic explanations about natural selection.Īs a biology teacher, how can I use this model in my classroom?Īs a part of my PhD research, I observed teachers use this model and other similar NetLogo models in their classrooms. Thus, the survival of a mouse and passing on of the traits influencing the survival results in a change in the population due to natural selection.īecause the rules of interaction of agents (inheritance of traits, camouflage etc.) are based on established biological principles, the emergent patterns that arise regarding the changes in the population are consistent with the process of natural selection. ![]() A surviving mouse gets a chance to reproduce. ![]() Physical traits affecting survival and reproduction : The probability of a mouse being predated depends on two factors, how many predators are present and how well it is camouflaged with the surroundings. When a male and a female mice mate, the genotypes of the offspring are determined using the principles of Mendelian inheritance. So heterozygous phenotype is dark fur color. Inheritance : Mc1r dominant allele is responsible for dark fur color. Environmental conditions can be changed in two ways – adding predators and changing the background (making it light, dark or mixed) These background colors are meant to represent the environmental conditions that affect survival mice in these habitats because of camouflage.įigure 2. The desert of New Mexico has rocky dark-colored areas as well as sandy light color areas. Initial population of mice is created based on the slide values of homozygous dominant, heterozygous and homozygous recessive males and femalesĮnvironmental conditions : Users can set if there is predation or not in the ecosystem and the background color (See Figure 2). ![]() Users can deduce this by changing these slider values (See Figure 1).įigure 1. Light fur color is a recessive trait and dark fur color is a dominant trait. The initial mouse population that is generated based on these settings is distributed randomly in the computational microworld. Users can set up the initial population using the sliders. Variation : The variation in the mouse population is in terms of the color of their fur coats, which is determined by the Mc1r gene. Some of the fundamental ideas related to natural selection that are incorporated in this model are: variation, environmental conditions, inheritance, physical traits affecting survival and reproduction. When students conduct computational experiments using this model, the results of these experiments are in alignment with established scientific ideas. The model is based on the established scientific understanding of inheritance and predation of rock pocket mice. Interestingly, rock pocket mice in these rocky areas have dark-colored fur! How did the population of rock pocket mice change? What can we learn from this about how evolution works?Įvolutionary biologists and molecular geneticists who have been studying these mice have attributed this adaptive variation in the color of fur coat primarily to mutations in a gene called melanocortin-1-receptor gene, Mc1r. After the lava cooled, patches of rocky areas were formed. There was a volcanic eruption in Valley of Fires about a thousand years ago. Except for the ones found in the rocky areas of deserts like those in Valley of Fires in New Mexico. They are generally light-colored tiny mice. These mice are found in deserts of southwestern United States and Mexico. This model is of a population of rock pocket mice. This model is designed using a multi-agent programmable modeling environment called NetLogo that allows users to easily manipulate behaviors of computational agents and investigate system-level changes. To understand why certain teaching practices are beneficial to facilitate student learning with such computational models, let’s first look at how the Rock Pocket Mice model is designed and what students can do with this model. In this part, I will discuss pedagogical practices to support student engagement in specific computational thinking practices using these kinds of models. I also introduced the idea of using computational models designed as experimental model systems for engaging students in computational thinking practices. In the first part, I discussed what computational thinking is and why it is important for biology students to learn computational thinking. This is part two of a two-part series investigating computational thinking in Biology.
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