On January 28, 9th grade biology students participated in an activity called Battle of the Beaks. This activity is intended to teach the students the various beak adaptations birds can have and the advantages they provide in different environments. It was woven into the unit The Theory of Evolution.
Evolution is the change in characteristics of species to help them thrive in the environment they live in. This is done over several generations and relies on the process of natural selection which favors the adaptations that help the organism survive easier. Then, that gene is passed down to the offspring from the parent through the process of reproduction. Adaptations can happen in thousands of years and whole new families of species can evolve in millions of years.
For the activity, students were separated into groups of four and each student picked one item to represent as their beak for the rest of the activity. The four different items were a fork, clothes pin, paper binder clip, and a chemistry tong. They were also provided with a food tin which served as the habitat and four different food types. The food types are pennies, macaroni, popcorn, toothpicks, and rubber bands which the students were only allowed to pick up one at a time.
For part one, each type of food was individually poured into the habitat. Then, the students had 30 seconds to try and ‘eat’ as much of the food as possible by picking one piece of food at a time by using their 'beak' and placing it in their solo cup which represented their stomach. At the end of each round, each student records the amount of food they collected and empties their cup and habitat. This process is then repeated until all of the different types of food have been tested.
Then for part two, all of the food types were mixed together in the habitat which is more typical of what happens in nature. This time, the students had one minute to collect as much food as possible in the solo cup. After each of the rounds, the food was kept in the solo cups and habitat. The food collected was then counted once all the rounds came to an end.
After each part, the students answered a few questions such as, “which beaks had the advantage with each type of food?” and “which beak was able to eat the most/least food overall?” Through this activity, Biology students were able to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of various beaks and provided a visual of the different traits species acquire through evolution.