Mississippi Science FB.6.1
The Standard
- FB.6
- Students will understand the interdependence of living organisms and their environment.
Compare and contrast biotic and abiotic factors.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Ecological Principals
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify living, once-living, and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. They compare their roles and explain how a change in water or light affects organisms.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student identifies grass, fungi, and a fallen leaf as living or once living, and rocks and sunlight as nonliving. They explain how less rain can reduce grass growth and leave grasshoppers with less food.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call plants nonliving because they do not move. They may think a fallen leaf was never living because it is dead. They may treat soil as wholly nonliving, overlooking worms and microbes.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Classify algae, fish, sunlight, and water in a pond as living or nonliving. Explain one way sunlight affects algae.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a potted plant, fallen leaf, pebble, and cup of water to sort; ask them to explain each choice.
Ask students to write two sentences explaining what might happen to algae and fish if a pond gets less sunlight.
Play a card sort with mushroom, rock, earthworm, rain, dead leaf, and bacteria; require a reason for every placement.
Use a local weather report to predict how a dry week might change grass growth and insect numbers in the schoolyard.
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Printable FB.6.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to FB.6.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- MAQ.4.1
Compare and contrast the unique biotic and abiotic characteristics of the following selected aquatic ecosystems: intertidal zone, wetlands/estuaries, coral reef...
- L.6.3.1
Use scientific reasoning to explain differences between biotic and abiotic factors that demonstrate what living organisms need to survive.
- ENV.1.1
Identify, investigate, and evaluate the interactions of the abiotic and biotic factors that determine the types of organisms that live in major biomes.
- L.4.2.1
Compare and contrast life cycles of familiar plants and animals.
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