Natural Selection and Antibiotic Resistance

Welcome: Natural Selection and Antibiotic Resistance
Description: Adaptation by natural selection acts over generations to change the characteristics of a population, particularly in response to new environmental conditions. Traits that support successful survival and reproduction in the new environment become more common; those that do not, become less common. As a result, the distribution of traits in a population changes. In this task, students will use their understanding of how natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population and the suppression of others to explain the frequencies of traits in a bacterial population and to consider the impact an antibiotic has on a bacterial population over many generations. Students calculate the frequencies of traits, and use graphs and scatterplots to describe and interpret the changes in those frequencies. Students also consider the development of antibiotic resistance through natural selection, and develop a list of criteria and constraints for solutions to combat antibiotic resistance in hospitals or other places that see large numbers of sick or elderly people.
Grade Level: 9-12
Curriculum: Science
Keywords: biology, natural selection, antibiotic resistance, adaptation
Author(s): Stephanie U Gallegos