Guppies from the pet store come in a wide variety of colors and fin shapes. In the Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit, students will compare pet store guppies to wild guppies from high and low predation environments in Trinidad. Through careful observation they will get a feel for how biological changes over time occur. These kits can only be borrowed and used in a school with the help of a graduate student from CSU’s Biology Department as they use live guppies.
Big Concepts include: 1) evolution,; 2) variability; 3) inheritance; 4) selection; and 5) time.
Scientific Inquiry Skills include: 1) observation of animal behavior; 2) data collection and analysis; 3) Punnett squares and statistics; and 4) use of science notebooks.
Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Tutorials
- Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Use Instructions (complete teacher guide)
- Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Clean-Up & Repacking Instructions
- Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Material List
Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Resources
- Video Introduction
- Guppy Color Scale
- Guppy Predator Videos
- Guppy Predator Video Key
- Science Notebook Template (for use in lieu of Science Notebooks)
- Science Notebook Template (Spanish version)
- Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kit Instruction Booklet
(available upon request – email name and school to Dr. Andrew Warnock)
CSU Resources
- Faculty Collaborator: Dr. Cameron Ghalambor – College of Natural Sciences, Dept. of Biology
- Faculty Collaborator: Dr. Lisa Angeloni – College of Natural Sciences, Dept. of Biology
Other Useful Resources
- Guppy Tank Construction Plans
- Guppy Predator Silhouettes
- Small Guppy 3D Stencil
- Large Guppy 3D Stencil
- The Kane Lab – Georgia Southern University
- Broder Lab – Saint Ambrose University
- Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science (published by the National Academies of Sciences)
Borrowing Small Fish-Big Questions STEM Kits
There is no charge to educators who wish to borrow borrow any of our STEM kits, but this kit may only be used by local teachers with the aid of a graduate student from the Biology Department at CSU who will bring the kits and guppies with them to the school. Return the loan application form to Laura Schoenfeld via email (laura.schoenfeld@colostate.edu) or fax (970-491-2005). We appreciate applications to be sent 2 weeks in advance to the desired use date.
- Local Pick-Up Loan Application Form – must coordinate use of this kit in the classroom with a graduate student in the Biology Department
- Educator Feedback Survey – must be completed after returning kits to the NSEOC and before another kit can be requested
