Population Genetics evo-edu.org

Landscape genetics and spatial population-change materials for movement, barriers, and population structure.

Curriculum Alignment

Gene Flow Mapper curriculum alignment

This page maps the app to NGSS-relevant concepts and practices while keeping the app connected to the larger evo-edu curriculum frame.

Open study guide Curriculum hub

Alignment Notes

  • NGSS HS-LS4-1: Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of evidence.
  • NGSS HS-LS2-6: Evaluate claims and design reasoning around factors that affect ecosystem dynamics and populations.
  • Science and Engineering Practices: developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data.

Classroom and Independent Use

K-12 or workshop use

Use the app to make movement and fragmentation visible, then ask learners to justify their ecological or evolutionary interpretation from the map rather than from prior assumptions.

Self-directed use

Use the guide as a map-reading investigation: predict what a barrier will do, run the model, record the changed pattern, and revise your explanation if the result is more gradual or more abrupt than expected.

Use in Sequence

Before the app

Introduce the landscape and ask what movement without barriers should look like.

During the app

Add barriers or change dispersal distance one step at a time and have learners defend their interpretation from the resulting pattern.

After the app

Compare the simulated pattern to fragmentation, dispersal, or corridor questions from real-world systems.

Evidence of Alignment in Practice

What learners should produce

  • A prediction about how movement or barriers should affect spatial pattern.
  • A comparison of maps from at least two conditions.
  • A revised explanation after testing more than one landscape setup.

What to listen for

  • Attention to spatial pattern rather than only numeric outcomes.
  • Claims that distinguish barrier effects from distance effects.
  • Willingness to compare multiple plausible explanations for the same map.

Scientific Virtues in Use

Use this app to reinforce careful observation, evidence-based explanation, and willingness to revise claims after repeated runs or conflicting results. That guidance is expanded in the Scientific Virtues notes.