Hands-on activities to celebrate Darwin 200
Philip Harris are proud to make the Survival Rival kits available to buy from this catalogue.
Have you claimed your free kits and would like to repeat the experiments?
Now you can, by purchasing another kit. Why not try all three experiments in the series?
Any school or college can be part of the celebrations for Darwin 200 by purchasing these kits.
If you haven't ordered your free kits yet you still can do at www.survivalrivals.org, but if you would like to purchase more kits please see below for details.
I'm a Worm, Get Me Out of Here uses different-coloured baits (worms) that are selected and eaten by birds. Students start by presenting birds with equal numbers of two different-coloured worms made from spaghetti and various food colourings. Each day, or at regular intervals, they breed the surviving worms ‐ using a simple formula to calculate how many worms of each colour will be in the next generation. Over time the proportion of the type of worms that the birds leave uneaten increases, and this simulates directional selection.
Students can also test which factors influence the rate at which the two types of prey are selected by the birds. What happens when you change the colour of background that the worms are placed on? The location of the test area? The size of the worms?
What's in the kit?
The kit for I'm a Worm, Get Me Out of Here contains everything you need to run the experiment in school including:
• Spaghetti
• Food colouring
• Enough equipment for 30 students to carry out the experiments, working in pairs
Teachers notes available to download from www.survivalrivals.org
How long will it take?
The experiment is designed to be flexible. It's up to the user how many times the worms are bred, so you can fit it to the time available. Students can also extend the project to investigate a number of different factors.