On December 6, 2020, volunteers from the Irvine branch of AYLUS hosted its thirteenth science exploratory class for the fall session. We used Zoom to host the lesson, and students, consisting of elementary and middle schoolers, had a great time participating.
We started by giving a list of some evidence of natural selection. We briefly went over what they were and covered it in detail later. We then went over how humans still aren’t sure how evolution happened completely. We mentioned that though certain religions counterclaim this, they are not supported by any evidence, and the theory is. We then reviewed the phases of natural selection, evolution, and adaptation. We went over what the coevolutionary arms race is, different traits and strategies organisms evolve, and how they are applied in the real world. Finally, we went over how fossil records, anatomical structures, geographical distribution, embryo development, genetic similarity, and radiometric dating proved natural selection and evolution occur. Overall, the students seemed to understand the evidence of natural selection and the diagrams/ simulations we provided seemed to reinforce that understanding.
Volunteers: Andy Chen (1.5 hrs), Aditya Verma (1.5 hrs), Brian Song (1 hr)