EV3.1: Weak Beaks

Quest Line: 
Summary: 

Talk to Kyler about his bird food problems. Help him figure out what the differences are between forest bird beaks and grassland bird beaks. Find forest birds in Lednem Trail and grassland birds in Bladed Crossing so you can compare their beaks. Turn in two data summaries for comparison.

Recommendations: 

In this quest line players will look at existing traits in animals in different zones and try to make predictions about how those traits might change given a change in environment. It is best used after players have had some introduction to evolutionary principles (some of which they get in the previous two evolution quests). We recommend having discussions about those two quests before moving on to this one. It is very similar to learning about Darwin’s finches but is an interactive way of studying the same phenomenon.

In this particular quest the sample sizes for the data summaries are rather low. Players should talk to each other about what distributions they got in the different locations.

Learning Objectives: 
  • Players will be able to recognize species variation
  • Players will be able to create a data summary
Connecting Questions: 
  1. What did you find in each region? Did they seem to have the same types of beaks?
  2. What do you think could have caused this difference?
  3. This quest can be easily connected to lessons relating to Darwin’s finches data.
Additional Resources: