MS-LS4-6 lessons
Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.
The Next Generation Science Standards code MS-LS4-6 asks students to: “Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.” 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.
- How fast can people change a species? 50–60 min
Teams rotate through five printed case stations: one wild plant that became cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts; dog breeds; the tame foxes of Siberia; bacteria that make human insulin; and bacteria that beat antibiotics. They graph real fox data and decide, case by case, who did the choosing: people or nature.
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-LS4-6 matches there. Other states word and number their own versions: see curriculum alignment for your state's codes.
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