![]() When a male and a female mice mate, the genotypes of the offspring are determined using the principles of Mendelian inheritance. So heterozygous phenotype is dark fur color. Inheritance : Mc1r dominant allele is responsible for dark fur color. Environmental conditions can be changed in two ways – adding predators and changing the background (making it light, dark or mixed) These background colors are meant to represent the environmental conditions that affect survival mice in these habitats because of camouflage.įigure 2. The desert of New Mexico has rocky dark-colored areas as well as sandy light color areas. Initial population of mice is created based on the slide values of homozygous dominant, heterozygous and homozygous recessive males and femalesĮnvironmental conditions : Users can set if there is predation or not in the ecosystem and the background color (See Figure 2). Users can deduce this by changing these slider values (See Figure 1).įigure 1. Light fur color is a recessive trait and dark fur color is a dominant trait. ![]() The initial mouse population that is generated based on these settings is distributed randomly in the computational microworld. Users can set up the initial population using the sliders. Variation : The variation in the mouse population is in terms of the color of their fur coats, which is determined by the Mc1r gene. Some of the fundamental ideas related to natural selection that are incorporated in this model are: variation, environmental conditions, inheritance, physical traits affecting survival and reproduction. When students conduct computational experiments using this model, the results of these experiments are in alignment with established scientific ideas. The model is based on the established scientific understanding of inheritance and predation of rock pocket mice. Interestingly, rock pocket mice in these rocky areas have dark-colored fur! How did the population of rock pocket mice change? What can we learn from this about how evolution works?Įvolutionary biologists and molecular geneticists who have been studying these mice have attributed this adaptive variation in the color of fur coat primarily to mutations in a gene called melanocortin-1-receptor gene, Mc1r. After the lava cooled, patches of rocky areas were formed. There was a volcanic eruption in Valley of Fires about a thousand years ago. Except for the ones found in the rocky areas of deserts like those in Valley of Fires in New Mexico. ![]() They are generally light-colored tiny mice. These mice are found in deserts of southwestern United States and Mexico. This model is of a population of rock pocket mice. This model is designed using a multi-agent programmable modeling environment called NetLogo that allows users to easily manipulate behaviors of computational agents and investigate system-level changes. To understand why certain teaching practices are beneficial to facilitate student learning with such computational models, let’s first look at how the Rock Pocket Mice model is designed and what students can do with this model. ![]() In this part, I will discuss pedagogical practices to support student engagement in specific computational thinking practices using these kinds of models. I also introduced the idea of using computational models designed as experimental model systems for engaging students in computational thinking practices. In the first part, I discussed what computational thinking is and why it is important for biology students to learn computational thinking. Depending on environmental conditions, inherited characteristics may be advantageous, neutral, or detrimental.This is part two of a two-part series investigating computational thinking in Biology.Traits that confer an advantage may persist in the population and are called adaptations.Over time, the proportion of individuals with advantageous traits may increase (and the proportion with disadvantageous traits may decrease) due to their chances of surviving and reproducing.Inherited characteristics affect the likelihood of an organism's survival and reproduction.New heritable traits can result from mutations.Evolution results from natural selection acting upon genetic variation within a population.There is a fit between organisms and their environments, though not always a perfect fit.An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.Information on controversies in the public arena relating to evolution.Alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards.The big issues – Pacing, diversity, complexity, and trends.Macroevolution – Evolution above the species level.Microevolution – Evolution within a population.Mechanisms: the processes of evolution – Selection, mutation, migration, and more.The history of life: looking at the patterns – Change over time and shared ancestors.An introduction to evolution: what is evolution and how does it work?.
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