Study Guide

Allele Tracker teacher and learner guide

Use this guide to frame the app with a clear question, expected observations, and follow-up discussion rather than treating the simulation as a standalone activity.

Open application Curriculum alignment

Teaching Focus

Teacher notes

Use paired runs to compare drift-only scenarios with scenarios that add weak or strong selection.
Keep population size visible in the discussion so learners do not confuse drift with deterministic change.
Have learners justify which parameter changes altered the outcome most and why.

Learner tasks

Run a baseline drift-only case and record when fixation or loss occurs.
Add migration and compare divergence across multiple populations.
Add weak selection and explain whether the pattern is still dominated by drift or not.

Suggested Sequence

Before the run

Define the population, decide which evolutionary force will be changed first, and state what result would count as evidence for drift rather than selection or migration.

During the run

Run a baseline case, change one force at a time, and compare repeated trials before deciding which mechanism best explains the pattern.

After the run

Ask whether the outcome supports drift, selection, migration, or some combination, and what additional run would challenge the first explanation.

Core Question

How do evolutionary forces change allele frequencies, and when do different forces dominate the outcome?

Evidence Prompts

What to record

Which parameters changed and which remained fixed.
When fixation, loss, or stable polymorphism appeared across repeated runs.
Where the same parameter set produced different outcomes and what that suggests about chance.

Questions to answer

What evidence supports your explanation of the frequency change?
What competing explanation did you consider and reject?
What new run would make your claim stronger or weaker?

Self-Study Path

Try this on your own

Run one drift-only case, one case with selection added, and one repeat of each. Then write a short comparison explaining which force best accounts for the difference you observed.

Extend the investigation

Compare this app with Gene Flow Mapper to connect within-population change to movement between populations.

Scientific Virtues

Habits to practice

Ask what evidence in the run supports the explanation, rather than jumping from pattern to conclusion.
Separate observation from inference by naming what the model shows and what you think it means.
Revise the explanation when a parameter change or repeated run produces conflicting results.

Continue the thread

Use the Scientific Virtues page to connect this investigation to broader habits of evidence, skepticism, and revision.