Natural Selection Investigation Project (7th Grade)

Living things rely on specialized structures and body systems to survive. These systems work together to obtain energy, respond to environmental changes, and maintain balance within an organism. In this project, you will investigate the functions of major body systems and examine how they help organisms survive and interact with their environment.

Standards Alignment:

Texas TEKS (New Standards):

• 7.13A – Investigate and explain how internal structures of organisms have adaptations that allow specific functions, such as gills in fish, hollow bones in birds, or xylem in plants.
• 7.13B – Explain how environmental changes can affect an organism's survival and influence the traits that are passed to future generations.
• 7.13C – Describe how natural selection contributes to the survival and reproduction of organisms with beneficial traits.

NGSS (Middle School Life Science):

• MS-LS1-3 – Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
• MS-LS1-8 – Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
• 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.
• LS1.A – Structure and Function
• LS4.B – Natural Selection

Facilitator Key Included