Georgia S5L2.a
The Standard
Ask questions to compare and contrast instincts and learned behaviors.
Georgia Standards of Excellence for Science · Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information showing that some characteristics of organisms are inherited and other characteristics are acquired.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students ask questions that help determine whether a behavior happens without teaching or develops through experience. They compare the evidence for instinctive and learned behaviors.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can classify examples such as a spider spinning a web and a dog responding to training. They ask useful questions about when the behavior began, whether it was taught, and whether practice changed it.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think any behavior done well is an instinct, even when it was practiced. They may also assume every behavior comes only from inheritance or only from learning, although some behaviors involve both.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A bird builds its first nest, while a dog learns to fetch after training. Write two questions that would help compare these behaviors.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs animal behavior cards, then have students sort them into instinct, learned, or needs more evidence and defend each choice.
Show a bird migration clip and ask, "What questions could reveal whether this behavior was taught or inherited?"
Play Behavior Detective by drawing example cards, naming the likely behavior type, and earning a point for an evidence-based question.
Have students interview a pet owner about one trained behavior and one behavior the animal showed without training.
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Printable S5L2.a Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S5L2.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- S7L3.c
Ask questions to gather and synthesize information about the ways humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms through selective breeding.
- SKL2.c
Ask questions and make observations to identify the similarities and differences of offspring to their parents and to other members of the same species.
- S1L1.b
Ask questions to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants (air, water, light, and nutrients) and animals (air, water, food, and shelter).
- S5L2.b
Ask questions to compare and contrast inherited and acquired physical traits.
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