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7th grade · Science · Unit 10 of 10

Natural Selection

Variation, survival and populations changing over time.

What your child practices

Practices how variation in traits leads some individuals to survive and reproduce more, how populations change over generations, and how artificial selection works.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7L.2.1.1.2; 7L.3.2.1.3 · the fossil record, body structures and the evidence for how species change

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Individuals vary. Those with helpful traits survive and reproduce more.
  2. Over generations, helpful traits become more common: natural selection.
  3. In artificial selection, people choose which plants or animals breed, like dog breeds.

Example: Farmers breed only the cows that give the most milk. What is this? People, not nature, are choosing. Choosing by people is artificial selection. Answer: artificial selection

Natural Selection in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 10 of 10 in 7th grade Science, after Genes & Heredity.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Do individuals evolve during their lifetime?

    • No, populations change over generations
    • Only on weekends
    • Yes, every day
    • Only if they try

  2. Question 2

    Finches with different beaks on different islands show…

    • random paint
    • no variation
    • adaptation to different foods
    • same diets

  3. Question 3

    Which is NOT needed for natural selection?

    • Organisms choosing their traits
    • Variation
    • Inheritance
    • Competition

  4. Question 4

    Dog breeds are a result of…

    • artificial selection
    • mutations from food
    • natural selection only
    • erosion

  5. Question 5

    Bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics is an example of…

    • natural selection
    • metamorphosis
    • photosynthesis
    • erosion

  6. Question 6

    Rabbits brought to a new island with few predators multiply fast. This shows…

    • populations grow when resources are plentiful and threats are few
    • rabbits are plants
    • natural selection never acts
    • variation stops

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