The coding rubric used to evaluate descriptions of fitness and inheritance in student responses to questions about fitness and evolutionary change over time. Themes and example student descriptions were ranked at level 1, level 2, or level 3 for application of mate choice and inheritance.
| . | Fitness . | Inheritance . |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 (Low) | The student used survival-based reasoning only. It affects fitness because it helps them survive. It’s camouflage or, in the male’s case, an alert. It helps them ward off predators. | The student did not include inheritance in their response. It brought along more dark red males because it was successful in surviving against predators, and the paler red weren’t as successful surviving so they died off and the red frogs kept going. |
| Level 2 (Medium) | The student described how the ability to acquire a mate can impact fitness. It makes you easier to spot, which makes you more likely to be caught by a predator, but it also helps you find a mate and pass on your traits, which would make you a more fit organism. | The student included a connection between reproduction and change over time; inheritance can be inferred. More red ones are able to reproduce, and so that causes the population to be kind of shifted towards the red side. |
| Level 3 (High) | The student applied accurate descriptions of fitness to evolutionary change over time. The ones with the intermediate tail are better at escaping predators and getting mates so they reproduce more. Then that gene for the intermediate tail would increase [in the population] because those birds have higher fitness. | The student directly included inheritance or the passing on of traits. They were able to mate and reproduce and pass on their trait of having an intermediate sized tail to their offspring. |
| . | Fitness . | Inheritance . |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 (Low) | The student used survival-based reasoning only. It affects fitness because it helps them survive. It’s camouflage or, in the male’s case, an alert. It helps them ward off predators. | The student did not include inheritance in their response. It brought along more dark red males because it was successful in surviving against predators, and the paler red weren’t as successful surviving so they died off and the red frogs kept going. |
| Level 2 (Medium) | The student described how the ability to acquire a mate can impact fitness. It makes you easier to spot, which makes you more likely to be caught by a predator, but it also helps you find a mate and pass on your traits, which would make you a more fit organism. | The student included a connection between reproduction and change over time; inheritance can be inferred. More red ones are able to reproduce, and so that causes the population to be kind of shifted towards the red side. |
| Level 3 (High) | The student applied accurate descriptions of fitness to evolutionary change over time. The ones with the intermediate tail are better at escaping predators and getting mates so they reproduce more. Then that gene for the intermediate tail would increase [in the population] because those birds have higher fitness. | The student directly included inheritance or the passing on of traits. They were able to mate and reproduce and pass on their trait of having an intermediate sized tail to their offspring. |