Mississippi Science GEN.5.3
The Standard
- GEN.5
- Students will apply population genetic concepts to explain the variability of organisms within a population.
Describe processes that cause changes in allelic frequencies (e.g., nonrandom mating, small population size, immigration and emigration, genetic drift, and mutation).
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Population Genetics
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students count copies of each allele before and after a population changes. They explain how chance in a small population, migration, mutation, or differences in who has offspring can change those counts.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given allele counts for two generations, students calculate each allele’s frequency and explain a likely cause of the change. They know that mating with similar individuals does not change allele frequencies by itself if everyone has the same number of offspring.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse a change in population size with a change in allele frequency. They may assume every mutation spreads, or that mating with similar individuals automatically changes allele frequencies.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A group has 20 A alleles and 20 a alleles. Ten AA animals move in. What is the new frequency of A, and what process caused the change?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Start with 20 red and 20 blue beans; draw 10 at random, refill to 40 in the drawn ratio, and repeat.
Ask: If beetles mate only with beetles of the same color but all have equal offspring, will allele frequencies change?
Give pairs six population story cards to sort by migration, mutation, genetic drift, or mating pattern; have them defend one choice.
Sketch a stream culvert with four upstream AA fish and two downstream aa fish; open it and tally upstream alleles after migration.
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Printable GEN.5.3 Worksheet
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Related Standards
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Construct written and verbal explanations to describe how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some organisms' probability of surviving and rep...
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Explain how natural selection acts upon genetic variability within a population and may lead to changes in allelic frequencies over time and evolutionary change...
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Enrichment: Analyze computer simulations of the effects of natural selection on allelic frequencies in a population.
- GEN.5.4
Apply the Hardy-Weinberg formula to analyze changes in allelic frequencies due to natural selection in a population. Relate these changes to the environmental f...
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