Artificial and Natural Selection Unit

List prices $46.72  SAVE MORE THAN 35%! This artificial and natural selection unit includes everything you need to teach an ENGAGING, RIGOROUS, and COMPLETE unit on natural and artificial selection! These are high-quality, high-impact lessons!

This is EVERYTHING YOU NEED to teach NGSS MS-LS4-4, MS-LS4-5, and MS-LS4-6: Genetic variations of traits in a population increase survival (natural selection) and how humans can influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms (artificial selection).

All of the work has been done for you – from start to finish!

This Money-Saving Bundle Includes the Following Resources:

1. Unit Plan: My simple unit plan tells you what to cover and in what order.
2. Natural Selection NOTES Presentation with Fill-in-the-Blanks Worksheet*: This presentation (both PPT and Google Slides provided) gives students a brief introduction to the topic. As they view the presentation, students fill in blanks on a provided Cloze worksheet.
3. Natural Selection READING & Questions*: Students read about natural selection, including how it occurs because of factors such as overproduction, competition, and variation lead to selection, which over time can lead to speciation. Includes a corresponding worksheet with reading comprehension questions.
4. Peppered Moths ONLINE SIMULATION*: Students pretend to be birds eating peppered moths in both light and dark forests! Kids will see for themselves how populations change over time due to natural selection.
5. Natural Selection GRAPHING ACTIVITY*: Students learn about a real life situation where scientists tracked natural selection in lizards over many generations. Kids will generate graphs from data to see for themselves how populations change over time due to natural selection.
6. Natural Selection LAB: FLEXIBLE SUPPLIES make this lab easy on you! Students model how different beak types match different food types.
7. Natural Selection GROUP DISCUSSION Activity: Provide different groups with different discussion prompts as a follow-up to the natural selection lab.
8. Natural Selection WORKSHEET: This is a simple and straightforward review of natural selection, including overproduction, variation, competition, and selection. Great for homework!
9. Natural Selection QUIZ: This assessment has 10 multiple-choice questions. Two similar versions are provided.
10. Artificial Selection NOTES Presentation with Fill-in-the-Blanks Worksheet*: This presentation (both PPT and Google Slides provided) gives students a brief introduction to the topic. As they view the presentation, students fill in blanks on a provided Cloze worksheet.
11. Artificial Selection READING and Questions*: Students read about artificial selection, how it works, examples, and technologies such as genetic engineering. Includes a corresponding worksheet with reading comprehension questions.
12. Pros and Cons of GENETIC ENGINEERING ACTIVITY*: Students will read about genetic engineering at a basic, easy-to-understand level. Then, they’ll complete a graphic organizer and follow-up questions. Also includes a writing prompt about students’ position on genetic engineering.
13. Artificial Selection Research PROJECT*: Rigorous! Students research one example of how humans have altered the heredity of traits in organisms through artificial selection and create a presentation.
14. Artificial Selection QUIZ: This assessment has 12 multiple-choice questions. Two similar versions are provided.
15. Natural & Artificial Selection CER STATIONS: Spark some critical thinking! Students visit 8 stations ot learn about real-life examples of artificial or natural selection to make claims from evidence. Rigorous!

* Skip the line at the copier! The starred resources include both print and digital Google Slides options to assign.

Standards Covered:

• NGSS MS-LS4-4: Construct an explanation based on evidence that describes how genetic variations of traits in a population increase some individuals’ probability of surviving and reproducing in a specific environment.
• NGSS MS-LS4-5: Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms. Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy); and, on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries.
• NGSS MS-LS4-5: Use mathematical representations to support explanations of how natural selection may lead to increases and decreases of specific traits in populations over time.

Teacher Notes:

• GO PAPERLESS! Most of the included resources include a digital Google Slides option to assign.
• These resources in this artificial and natural selection unit are not editable.
• Answer keys are always included.
• You can also shop my TPT store!
• Looking to cover ALL of NGSS MS-LS4: Biological Evolution & Diversity? Check out my complete MS-LS4 Unit HERE!