Mississippi Science ZOO.1.5
The Standard
- ZOO.1
- Students will develop a model of evolutionary change over time.
Design models to illustrate the interaction between changing environments and genetic variation in natural selection leading to adaptations in populations and differential success of populations.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Evolution
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students model two animal populations with different mixes of inherited traits. They show how an environmental change affects survival and reproduction, then track each population across generations.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A clear model starts with variation already present and shows which animals survive and have offspring after a change. Students can explain why a helpful trait becomes more common and why one population may do better than another.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may show animals changing color because they need to hide, rather than selection acting on inherited differences already present. They may say an individual evolves or leave reproduction out of the model.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: After tree bark darkens, one beetle population has 8 dark and 2 light beetles, while another has 2 dark and 8 light beetles. Sketch three generations with bird predation and inherited color, then predict which population is more likely to persist.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Move two beetle populations with different color mixes from light to dark paper; pick visible prey, make same-color offspring, and chart survivors.
Ask students to explain why one beetle population grows after bark darkens while another shrinks, using starting color mixes and offspring counts.
Give pairs a flawed beetle model where every beetle darkens after bark changes; have them redraw it with inherited color variants.
Show photos of peppered moths before and after soot darkened tree bark; compare likely survival in two populations with different starting colors.
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