MS-LS4-4 lessons
Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
The Next Generation Science Standards code MS-LS4-4 asks students to: “Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals' probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.” These Fieldbook lessons teach it hands-on, with everyday materials, a printable teacher guide and a student sheet.
Natural Selection: How Living Things Change Over Time Grades 6–8
- Why do some animals survive and others don't? 50–60 min
Teams play hungry birds hunting printed light and dark peppered moths on printed clean and sooty bark, over four generations, and graph how the moth population changes. Then they explain the real peppered moth story: variation, survival and reproduction, not moths trying to change.
- What did the Grants find on the Galápagos? 50–60 min
Teams play out a drought on a Galápagos island with printed finch and seed cards, then graph the real data Peter and Rosemary Grant collected when a drought in 1977 killed most of the medium ground finches. Students calculate how much the average beak changed and explain why.
NGSS is used as written in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, so the code MS-LS4-4 matches there. Other states word and number their own versions: see curriculum alignment for your state's codes.
More NGSS standards for middle school
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