Virginia SOL LS.6.c
The Standard
symbiotic relationships support the survival of different species
Virginia Standards of Learning for Science · The student will investigate and understand that populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent. Key ideas include
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism in close, long-term relationships between species. They explain how each organism is helped, harmed, or unaffected and predict what happens if the relationship changes.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students classify an unfamiliar example using evidence about both organisms. They can explain how the relationship affects survival and predict a likely result if one species disappears.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often think every symbiotic relationship helps both species or that parasitism kills the host immediately. They may also confuse predation with parasitism or assume an unaffected organism receives a hidden benefit.
How to Assess It
- Give students one example, such as a tick feeding on a deer. Ask them to classify the relationship, label each organism's outcome, and explain their reasoning.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs organism cards, yarn, and benefit-harm labels to build and classify four symbiotic relationships.
Ask students to explain whether a relationship can support one species while harming another, using a named example.
Play Symbiosis Match by having teams pair organism cards, classify each relationship, and defend one disputed match.
Read a short coral bleaching report and trace how losing algae affects coral survival and the reef community.
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Printable LS.6.c Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to LS.6.c, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- LS.6.d
the niche of each organism supports survival.
- LS.7
The student will investigate and understand that adaptations support an organism’s survival in an ecosystem. Key ideas include
- 4.3.a
interrelationships exist in populations, communities, and ecosystems;
- 2.5.a
plants and animals are interdependent with their living and nonliving surroundings;
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