Mississippi Science MAQ.4.6
The Standard
- MAQ.4
- Students will examine characteristics of specific aquatic ecosystems and the effects of human and natural phenomena on those ecosystems.
Research, analyze, and communicate the effects of natural phenomena (e.g., hurricanes, floods, drought, and sea-level rise) on the aquatic ecosystems.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Flora and Fauna
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students research how storms, floods, droughts, or sea-level rise change aquatic habitats. They use evidence to explain what happens to organisms and share their findings.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can link an event to a measured change, such as lower water clarity after a flood. They explain a likely effect on a named organism and cite evidence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think floods only add water and miss the sediment that blocks light. They may assume sea-level rise creates more habitat, or that every hurricane changes salinity in the same direction.
How to Assess It
- Give students this prompt: “After a flood, underwater visibility fell from 1.5 meters to 0.3 meters. Explain one likely effect on seagrass, using the measurement as evidence.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Shine a flashlight through clear and muddy water in separate cups onto white paper, then connect the difference to seagrass after floods.
Give students short source cards on freshwater floods and droughts; ask them to write how each might change estuary salinity.
Hand out cards labeled drought, low river flow, higher salinity, and fish movement; have teams arrange and defend a cause-and-effect chain.
Open NOAA's Key West tide-gauge graph, mark its long-term trend, and predict one risk for a nearby coastal wetland.
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Printable MAQ.4.6 Worksheet
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