Mississippi Science L.8.4A.1
The Standard
- L.8.4A
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the process of natural selection, in which variations in a population increase some individuals' likelihood of surviving and reproducing in a changing environment.
Use various scientific resources to analyze the historical findings of Charles Darwin to explain basic principles of natural selection.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Adaptation and Diversity
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use Darwin's notes, a Galápagos map, and finch beak diagrams to explain natural selection. They connect differences in inherited traits to survival and reproduction over generations.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use beak and food evidence to explain why some finches leave more offspring than others. They can explain how an inherited beak shape becomes more common in a population over generations.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a finch grows a new beak because it needs one, or that all finches change at once. They may leave out reproduction and say that surviving birds alone change the population.
How to Assess It
- Show a Galápagos map marked with an island's hard seeds and drawings of thick and thin finch beaks. Ask, "Which beak might become more common on this island over generations? Use both sources to explain why."
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups tweezers and clothespins as beaks, plus dried beans and rice; have them tally food picked up in 30 seconds.
Show Darwin's Galápagos map and finch drawings; ask, "How could food on different islands lead to different beaks over generations?"
Give pairs cards labeled variation, inherited trait, food advantage, and offspring; have them order the cards for thick-beaked finches eating hard seeds.
Show a graph of pesticide-resistant mosquitoes before and after spraying; ask which mosquitoes leave more offspring and why resistance spreads.
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