Teaching the Concept of Genetic Drift Using a Simulation

Hammersmith, Robert L.; Mertens, Thomas R.

doi:10.2307/4449186

Cited by 11 publications

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“…I have used these images and analogies in my courses but have never been completely satisfied with their efficacy. In searching for improvements, I found a variety of resources, both online ("Dueling Alleles" from Helms et al, 1997; "Genetic Drift Simulation" from University of Arizona, 1999) and in the pages of The American Biology Teacher (Western, 1976;Hammersmith & Mertens, 1990;Maret & Rissing, 1998;Brewer & Zabinski, 1999;Kephart et al, 2002;Young & Young, 2003;Robischon, 2015). These many projects approach drift from a variety of perspectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Genetic Drift via Manual Simulations

Pecor

2019

The American Biology Teacher

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, none of these projects explicitly address the mechanism that the computer simulations in textbooks were meant to mimic. The project by Hammersmith and Mertens (1990)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Genetic Drift via Manual Simulations

Pecor

2019

The American Biology Teacher

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Beads and Dice in a Genetic Drift Exercise

Russo

Voloch

2012

Evo Edu Outreach

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Natural selection driving adaptive changes is a powerful and intuitive explanation for the evolution of the living world around us. Evolution at the molecular level, however, is chiefly ruled by random genetic drift. The idea that an advantageous allele may be lost by chance in a natural population is rather difficult to explore in the classroom. Low-cost and hands-on educational resources are needed to make genetic drift more intuitive among students. In this exercise, we use colored beads and the roll of a die to simulate drift and selection jointly affecting the fate of the genetic variants in an evolving population. Our aim is to teach students that natural selection does not determine but simply influences the fate of advantageous alleles because random genetic drift is always present. We have been using this exercise successfully for over a decade for the Biological Sciences students at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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