GMS: 8th Grade Science
Unit 4:
 Population
Changes
 Adaptations
 Natural
Selection
Unit Big Idea (Organisms change in their population due to natural selection)
5.1: Analyze structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations to predict
which organisms are likely to survive in a particular environment.
5.3: Analyze data on levels of variation within a population to make predictions
about survival under particular environmental conditions.
5.4: Identify several reasons for the importance of maintaining the earth’s
biodiversity.
5.5: Compare fossils found in sedimentary rock to determine their relative age.
Students will know:
 Vocabulary to include: 1.adaptation 2.species 3.population
4.sedimentary rock 5.fossils 6.fossil record 7.mammals 8.Charles
Darwin 9. trait 10. selective breeding 11. natural selection 12.
generation time 13. speciation
 The fossil record is composed of sedimentary rocks with the youngest
rocks towards the surface.
 Common traits and DNA show organisms have common ancestors.
 How some finch species of the Galápagos Islands developed
adaptations in response to their environment (variation of species)
 How changes in the environment and population growth can affect food
supply.
 Four parts of Charles Darwin's process of natural selection
 How natural selection can result in adaptations that helps organisms
survive
 How changes in population can occur: adaptions to hunting, insecticide
resistance and competition for mates, along with others.
 The process of speciation: separation, adaptation and division.
Students will understand that:
 Studying fossils allows scientists to see how organisms have changed
over time allowing them to adapt to new environments.
 Natural selection explains the process of how all populations -- past,
present and future -- have and will continue to change over time.
Students will be able to:
 Identify two pieces of evidence showing how organisms change over
time.
 Describe how the fossil record shows changes in the kinds of organisms
in the environment have been occurring over time
 Understand and use Charles Darwin’s research to make predictions of
animals’ adaptations when their environment around them changes.
 Make predictions of relative age of fossils using sedimentary rock and
the fossil record.
 Compare intended benefits and unintended consequences of pesticides.
 Compare food supply and population growth through a simple lab
 Describe the process of speciation.
 Create their own “imaginary creature” making its adaptations align
correctly with the environment it lives in.
GMS: 8th Grade Science
Unit 4:
 Population
Changes
 Adaptations
 Natural
Selection
Unit Big Idea (Organisms change in their population due to natural selection)
5.1: Analyze structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations to predict
which organisms are likely to survive in a particular environment.
5.3: Analyze data on levels of variation within a population to make predictions
about survival under particular environmental conditions.
5.4: Identify several reasons for the importance of maintaining the earth’s
biodiversity.
5.5: Compare fossils found in sedimentary rock to determine their relative age.
Students will know:
 Vocabulary to include:1.adaptation 2.species 3.population
4.sedimentary rock 5.fossils 6.fossil record 7.mammals 8.Charles
Darwin 9. trait 10. selective breeding 11. natural selection 12.
generation time 13. speciation
 The fossil record is composed of sedimentary rocks with the youngest
rocks towards the surface.
 Common traits and DNA show organisms have common ancestors.
 How some finch species of the Galápagos Islands developed
adaptations in response to their environment (variation of species)
 How changes in the environment and population growth can affect food
supply.
 Four parts of Charles Darwin's process of natural selection
 How natural selection can result in adaptations that helps organisms
survive
 How changes in population can occur: adaptions to hunting, insecticide
resistance and competition for mates, along with others.
 The process of speciation: separation, adaptation and division.
Students will understand that:
 Studying fossils allows scientists to see how organisms have changed
over time allowing them to adapt to new environments.
 Natural selection explains the process of how all populations -- past,
present and future -- have and will continue to change over time.
Students will be able to:
 Identify two pieces of evidence showing how organisms change over
time.
 Describe how the fossil record shows changes in the kinds of organisms
in the environment have been occurring over time
 Understand and use Charles Darwin’s research to make predictions of
animals’ adaptations when their environment around them changes.
 Make predictions of relative age of fossils using sedimentary rock and
the fossil record.
 Compare intended benefits and unintended consequences of pesticides.
 Compare food supply and population growth through a simple lab
 Describe the process of speciation.
 Create their own “imaginary creature” making its adaptations align
correctly with the environment it lives in.