Computational Thinking in Science and Math

Lesson 5: Genetic Drift

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In this lesson, you will experiment with a population of bacteria. In this model the environment has sugar that bacteria use as an energy source. There are different phenotypes of bacteria in this population. Different types of bacteria have different number of flagella. Flagella are the appendages that allow bacteria move in specific direction. It's important to note that in this model there is no advantage for a bacterium to have more number of flagella.

Let's explore this model to investigate the phenomenon of genetic drift. Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution. You will observe and learn about how the population evolves over time because of genetic drift. When you finish working through this lesson, we expect that you learn about genetic drift works as a mechanism of evolution. Let's get started!