Mississippi Science ZOO.5.9
The Standard
- ZOO.5
- Students will understand the basic structure and function of phylum Arthropoda, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.
Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Phylum Arthropoda
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students dissect a crayfish and a grasshopper. They identify body regions, jointed legs, digestive organs, and breathing structures. They compare how the parts are arranged and what each part does.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can locate crayfish gills and grasshopper tracheae in a specimen or dissection image. They can use labeled sketches to explain how each animal gets oxygen and compare its specialized parts.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think grasshoppers breathe through their mouths or that crayfish gills sit outside the shell. They may count legs to decide which animal is more advanced, rather than comparing what its parts do.
How to Assess It
- Give students diagrams of a crayfish and grasshopper with the gills and tracheae marked. Ask them to name one shared external feature and explain how each animal gets oxygen.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pin preserved crayfish and grasshoppers in trays, label body segments and legs, then open each to locate gills, tracheae, and guts.
Ask students to write: Why are crayfish gills under the carapace while grasshoppers have spiracles along the body?
Give pairs anatomy cards for both animals; have them sort each structure by animal, internal or external location, and function.
Show a photo of a molting cicada beside a discarded crayfish shell; ask what their shared exoskeleton means for growth.
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Printable ZOO.5.9 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- ZOO.10.5
Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.
- ZOO.7.7
Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.
- ZOO.4.6
Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.
- ZOO.6.7
Dissect representative taxa and compare their internal and external anatomy and complexity.
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