MS.LS4.2: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for similarities…
Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
The South Dakota Science Standards (2024) outcome MS.LS4.2 (Life Sciences) for Grades 6–8 says: “Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: South Dakota Science Standards (2024).
Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time Grades 6–8
A peppered moth hunting game over four generations, the Grants' real Galápagos finch data from the 1977 drought, whale fossils in rock-layer order with a forelimb bone comparison, and five case stations on selective breeding and antibiotic resistance. Every lesson runs on printed sheets alone: no materials to buy.
- How do fossils show life has changed? 50–60 min
Teams build a rock column from printed fossil cards of early whales, from a four-legged land animal to a sea creature with tiny hind legs, and track the changes. Then they compare the bones in a human arm, a cat's leg, a whale's flipper, a bat's wing and a bird's wing, and explain what the shared pattern says about relationships.
Printable practice for MS.LS4.2
- Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time workbook included with the unit
1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
Need just this outcome? Build a custom pack from these pages, with its answer key, in about a minute. Custom packs come with All-access and school licences.
Compared with NGSS: MS-LS4-2.
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