NGSS 3-LS4-4
The Standard
Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Next Generation Science Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students examine one environmental change and identify how it affects plants or animals. They make a claim about whether a proposed solution works and support it with evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can explain how one habitat change affects specific plants or animals. They can judge a proposed solution using evidence, including how well it helps and any problems it may cause.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every organism reacts to a habitat change in the same way. They may choose a solution because it sounds kind, without using evidence. They may also ignore costs or new problems created by the solution.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A pond is getting smaller, and frogs need shallow water to lay eggs. Should people dig a shallow basin nearby? State a claim and give one supporting reason.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Model a shrinking pond with clay, water, and animal cards, then test whether adding a small basin preserves usable habitat.
Discuss which plan would best help birds after schoolyard trees are removed, then support the choice with two facts.
Sort habitat change and solution cards, then earn a point by explaining why each matched solution would help.
Survey a dry, flooded, or disturbed schoolyard area and propose one realistic way to protect the organisms living there.
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Printable 3-LS4-4 Worksheet
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