Mississippi Science ZOO.1.4

ScienceGrades 9–12Zoology I and II

The Standard

Construct cladograms or phylogenetic trees to show the evolutionary branches of an ancestral species and its descendants.

2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Evolution

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use animal traits to draw a branching tree. They place animals at the branch tips and mark where shared traits appeared.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a trait table, a student groups animals by shared inherited traits and labels their common ancestors. They can explain why two animals share a branch without claiming that one living animal became the other.
Common Misconceptions: Students may draw a straight line from shark to frog to lizard to mouse, as if living animals turned into one another. They may group animals by looks alone or assume the tip farthest right is the most evolved.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Draw a tree for shark, frog, lizard, and mouse using four limbs (all but shark), an amniotic egg (lizard and mouse), and hair (mouse). Circle the common ancestor of lizard and mouse.

Lesson moves

Give pairs animal cards and a trait checklist; have them place the cards at the tips of a paper tree and label trait changes.
Ask, 'Did modern lizards turn into modern mice?' Have students point to a branch and explain their answer.
Show three trees for shark, frog, lizard, and mouse; teams use a trait table to choose and defend the one that fits.
Have students design a zoo sign with a branching tree for lions, house cats, and wolves, showing which two share a recent ancestor.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to ZOO.1.4, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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