Wyoming Science HS-LS4-6

ScienceGrades 9–12Life Science

The Standard

Create and/or use a simulation to evaluate the impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

2023 Wyoming Science Content and Performance Standards · LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students build or run a simple habitat model. They change one human action, such as land clearing, and compare the species present before and after. They use the results to explain a likely effect on biodiversity.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student runs the same model with and without habitat loss and records how many species remain. They explain the difference using their results and name something the model leaves out.
Common Misconceptions: Students may count individual animals instead of species. They may treat one simulation run as a certain prediction, or change several conditions at once and blame the result on just one.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Use this species grid (A A D / A C B / C C B) and cross out the top row for a new road. State the number of species before and after, then name one thing the model leaves out.

Lesson moves

Give pairs matching 5-by-5 species grids; cross out five versus ten squares for land clearing, then count surviving species.
Ask: Which clearing run lost more species, and how could migration change your conclusion? Use the grid counts in your answer.
Start with three snails and three frogs. Roll five pollution events: 1–3 removes a snail, 4 removes a frog, 5–6 does nothing.
Sketch the schoolyard as a species grid; pave five squares for a hypothetical parking lot and compare species left with the original.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to HS-LS4-6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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