Dive into the fascinating world of evolution with this fun and easy bird beak natural selection lab! Evolutionary concepts can sometimes feel abstract for students. By diving into the fascinating world of bird beaks, you can bring those principles to life with a dynamic, hands-on lab that will have your students chirping with excitement.
The Battle of the Beaks lab is a classic for teaching natural selection. The essence of the lab is that each student will represent a bird trying to catch food. Each student will receive a tool to represent their bird’s beak. They will only be able to catch food with their beak. When they catch a food item, they will put it in their “stomach” cup. Students will see that some beaks have an advantage over others and certain food items are more easily caught than others.
I use this lab as an introduction to my evolution unit. The goal is to get students to see that there are variations in traits that may give one organism or species an advantage in terms of survival. There are many different variations of how to conduct this lab and every teacher has their way of doing it. I remember doing it in my high school and college-level biology classes. Each time it was slightly different.
This natural selection lab is clearly a crowd favorite. No matter how you actually run the lab, it can be overwhelming to set up and run this lab effectively in a class period. So here are my 5 tips for unleashing the inner Darwin in your classroom:
1. Set up Food Items Before the Natural Selection Lab
There are many variations of the bird beak lab. Some people use beans, jellybeans, random supplies, etc. to represent the food items that the birds will be fighting over during the simulation. It is really up to you what food items you use. Find four things you already have in your classroom that could represent food items. I use paperclips, toothpicks, shell pasta, and orzo. These four items are varying shapes and sizes to represent the different food items in the wild.
In my version of the lab, students begin the first round of feeding one type of food at a time. This allows each bird’s beak to discover what they are good at eating. So before class, I created a bag of each food item. When it’s time for students in the round to feed on the item, they can pour the bag into their feeding area and when they are done, they can dump it back into the bag. This saves me so much time because now the baggies of food can be used year after year.
In the second round of the bird beak natural selection lab simulation, all food items are present at the same time. I create one final bag that contains all four food items mixed. When it is time to begin this round, students can dump the bag into the feeding area. When the round is over, they can pour the contents back into the bag.
Having the food items prepared in bags or containers allows each round to run smoothly. I make sure to have students clean up the food items before moving to the next to ensure everything is back into its original bag. With everything in the correct baggies, I am prepped for the next class stress-free.
2. Use a Feeding Area Bin during the Battle of the Beaks
Along with having the food items prepped for year to year in baggies, I use a large bin to represent the feeding area. Using a large bin with sides helps contain all the food items in one area to prevent them from flying all over the place during the lab.
I have students place the feeding area bin in the center of the group’s table. They will then dump a bag of food into the bin. When the timer begins, they will compete for the food items in the bin. This adds an element of competition as students “fight” over the limited amount of food.
These bins also act as storage for the lab supplies. I keep the food baggies, beaks, and stomach cups in the bins until next year. So when it is time to prep for this lab, I simply just pull the stack of bins out of the cabinet. This makes the lab virtually prep-free.
3. Pre Make Student Groups
Most teachers would agree that when you do any sort of group work, that it is important to plan out the student groups ahead of time. I think for this natural selection lab it is important to preplan the student groupings.
You will want groups to consist of four students since there are four beak types. Obviously, most classes will not be evenly divided into perfect groups of four. In that case, I have used groups of three where one of the beak types is left out.
I like to use the tool Flippity to make my groups ahead of time. It will allow me to create groups randomly. I can then look over the groupings and move any students where I think they need to be.
Once students are arranged in their groups, I then give them the choice of which beak type they use. If your class needs more structure, you could also assign the beak types to each student.
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I hope you find these tips helpful as you prepare your version of this lab. You always can modify the materials, difficulty level, and even introduce “predators” (other participants trying to steal food) to spice things up! With a little preparation and a dash of imagination, your bird beak natural selection lab can be a spectacular learning experience for your students.
Sea you soon,
