Sunflower Seeds Challenge: modified from

http://ncisla.wceruw.org/muse/naturalselection/materials/section3/lesson3B/inotes/index.html
05.15.09

INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
• Darwin's Model of Natural Selection:
• Populations are made up of individual organisms whose traits (structural, behavioral,
biochemical) exhibit variation from one individual to the next
• Many trait variations are inherited
• The frequency of particular trait variations in a population may change over time due to
differential survival and reproduction
• Evolutionary changes occur in populations or species, not individuals
• Offspring are not exactly like their parents-they also vary, but the variations of their traits are
likely to be similar to those of their parents
• Variability in a population can be represented graphically
Supplies
Sunflower seeds
Large test tubes/test tube rack or plastic cups

Teaching Strategies and Student Ideas

This exercise is intended to provide students with an opportunity to examine a trait carefully in
order to see the wide range over which it varies. Many students have probably never had this
experience and therefore often think of all the members of a particular species as being almost
exactly alike. Students should not be asked to count the seeds for a long period of time, however,
because the task can quickly become tedious and then the lesson has the potential to be lost.

The rules for counting are not really important, except that everyone should be operating with the
same criteria. We have found that even when students don't perform this task with a great deal of
care, the point about variation is still clearly made and the normal distribution can be observed in
the test tubes.

Begin with a fairly simple demonstration to develop the idea that although a passing glance may
make it seem that all members of a species are exactly alike, small variations exist. In fact, for
most traits there is a wide range of variation, rather than simply two character states as is often
seen in genetics problems. Pass out a handful of sunflower seeds to each group of 2-3 students
and ask them to count the stripes. It will quickly become apparent to students that this is not a
straightforward task and they will probably begin to ask questions such as:

"Do we count both sides or just one?"

"What if a stripe doesn't go all the way across?"
"What about the stripes on the side, do they count?"

Possible Scenario
1. Have students form groups of four

2. Give each group a cup (or a package) of sunflower seeds and ask each student to arbitrarily put
one seed out and write down observations about their seed.
3. Get students to report their observations.
4. Provide students with a justification for doing an investigation into sunflower seeds. Ask them
“How representative do you think your seed is of all the other sunflower seeds?” “By looking at one
seed, do you think what you noticed are common-shared characteristics?”

5. Point out that it’s better to put all data sets together than dealing with only individual data points.
Ask them “How many sunflower seeds would you have to look at in order to be able to see if there
is a pattern or a common characteristic that shows up more often?”

6. Provide a task on classifying sunflower seeds based upon the number of strips.

7. Let each group sort a cup or a package of sunflower seeds (around 100) out depending upon
the number of stripes on one side of sunflower seeds.

8. After the task is done, give students a time to look around the class in order for them to look at
how other people use and organize their information. Point out that “When scientists make
observations and collect data, they not only think about those observations and then they start
reorganizing their information in a way that makes it easier to interpret both visually and
mathematically often.”

9. Get each group to report any patterns that they found. Students may notice that there is a kind
of normal distribution of the number of strips, which presents a bell-shaped distribution.

10. Place transparent cups in line on a table, which have its own number corresponding to the
number of strips. And then, ask students to take their seeds and put them in the cups based on the
number of strips. The distribution would present a ball shape (Figure 1).

11. Make it explicit that enough data points are crucial in doing inquiry. When classifying seeds,
students would face some challenges. For example, some strips don’t go one end to the other end,
but only half. Therefore, some subjective decision making would be involved in this investigation.
However, putting all data sets together can allow students to find a pattern.

12. In terms of biology content, you can also discuss whether certain number of strips (e.g., 3-5
strips) has advantages to survive, which is followed by a discussion about the concept of evolution.