Mississippi Science ZOO.10

ZOO.10 is a cluster heading. These are the individual standards under it.

• ZOO.10.1

  Understand the characteristics and behaviors that distinguish mammals from other phyla and use characteristics and behaviors to distinguish the major orders, in...

• ZOO.10.2

  Describe the characteristics of the first true mammal.

• ZOO.10.3

  Distinguish between monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians, and describe the importance and differences in the placenta in marsupials and eutherians.

• ZOO.10.4

  Describe characteristics that make primates unique, including investigating how the center of gravity relates to the evolution of bipedalism.

• ZOO.10.5

  Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.

• ZOO.10.6

  Explain how human impacts have changed the environment of aquatic and terrestrial organisms (e.g., habitat destruction, urbanization, and climate change).

• ZOO.10.7

  Enrichment: Use an engineering design process to develop a possible solution to an environmental issue that currently exists in an ecosystem. *

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify chordates by shared body features and mammals by hair, milk production, and other traits. They describe early mammals and compare mammal orders and reproductive groups. They compare anatomy, study how primates balance on two legs, and explain how development and warming change habitats.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student sorts a platypus, kangaroo, and human by reproductive group and explains how marsupial and eutherian placentas differ. They label shared organs in frog and rat specimens and identify primates by grasping hands and forward-facing eyes. They mark where a standing human's weight is balanced over the feet and predict how a new road could affect a local mammal.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may call every animal with a backbone a mammal or assume all mammals give live birth. They may think marsupials have no placenta, all primates walk upright, or roads affect only animals struck by cars.

04

How to Assess It

Show students a platypus, kangaroo, and human. Ask them to name each reproductive group and explain how the two placentas differ.

1. 01

   Dissect preserved frog and rat specimens, then label their hearts, lungs, and external coverings on a comparison sheet.

2. 02

   Compare side-view human and chimp skeleton drawings; mark where each body balances and explain how foot position affects upright walking.

3. 03

   Sort picture cards of a bat, fox, squirrel, lemur, platypus, and kangaroo by mammal order and reproductive group.

4. 04

   Use a local road expansion map to identify lost habitat, then sketch a wildlife crossing and a way to test its use.

• ZOO.7

  Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, classes Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of...

• ZOO.8

  Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, classes Amphibia and Reptilia, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living th...

• ZOO.9

  Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, class Aves, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.

• ZOO.6

  Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Echinodermata, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.