A species-specific look at natural selection, the resource herein examines how adaptations have helped the population of rock pocket mice survive in a changing landscape. To begin, middle or high schoolers watch a 10.5 minute video, taking notes on the attached handout. Next, based on the information they learned, they do a card sort to put pictures of the mice and their habitats in chronological order. Your future field biologists then take the data they collected and graph it to see the progression of populations over time. Finally, they answer some analysis questions based on their own research and what they know about evolution and natural selection.

Common Core

RST.9-10.3 RST.9-10.4 RST.9-10.7 WHST.9-10.1.a MP2 MP3 MP5