Primary Science Education Conference

This workshop supplies creative ideas supporting teaching about population change over time, variation and natural selection, inspired by Darwin's observations of moths. Based on his prediction of the existence of a moth with a 30cm proboscis to feed from the Madagascan Comet orchid, the session commences with a dramatic dialogue between Darwin and his wife. A brief drama activity follows, modelling how differing length proboscises link to different flowers. This scaffolds understanding of the symbiosis between plant and animal, leading to insights into how evolution by natural selection occurs. Participants also gain practical ideas to make 'flowers' and moth 'proboscises'.