Mississippi Science ZOO.10.6
The Standard
- ZOO.10
- Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.
Explain how human impacts have changed the environment of aquatic and terrestrial organisms (e.g., habitat destruction, urbanization, and climate change).
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how a human action changes a mammal's habitat. They explain what that change means for its food, shelter, or movement, using examples from land and water.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a map or short case, a student can name the human action, the habitat change, and a likely effect on a mammal. They can explain why a road may isolate deer even if no deer are hit, or why less sea ice limits polar bears' access to seals.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think roads harm animals only when cars hit them, missing how roads split habitats. They may assume mammals can always move somewhere else or mistake one hot day for evidence of long-term climate change.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A road splits a deer's forest, and sea ice breaks up earlier where polar bears hunt. For each mammal, name the habitat change and explain one effect on food or movement.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a paper forest map and yarn roads; have them count connected habitat patches before and after adding two roads.
Ask: How could earlier sea ice melt change a polar bear's access to seals? Have students write a three-step cause-and-effect chain.
Match picture cards of highways, coastal construction, and shrinking sea ice to deer, harbor seals, and polar bears; explain each habitat change.
Place a proposed parking lot beside a stream on a local map; predict how cleared banks and runoff might affect river otters.
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