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7th grade How helpful traits become more common over many generations worksheet

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How helpful traits become more common over many generations

Grade 7 Science Worksheet

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. A wet year left many small seeds and few large, hard seeds. Ari predicts the next generation's average beak depth. Which prediction fits?

    • 6.0 mm, since the whole group changed in one generation
    • 9.1 mm, since small-beaked finches had more young
    • 9.0 mm, since each finch shrank its own beak
    • 9.4 mm, since the finches share one beak depth
  2. Light moths rose from 6 to 30 per 100 as clean-air laws lightened the bark. Bo predicts the next years if the bark stays light. What fits?

    • 30 per 100, since the moths share one color
    • Back to 6 per 100, since moths change color each year
    • More than 30 per 100, since matching moths have more young
    • 100 per 100 by next year, in a single step
  3. Esme spreads bacteria from the 3 colonies on Plate 2 onto a new plate with the same antibiotic. What will Plate 3 most likely show?

    • No growth, since the antibiotic stops bacteria of this kind
    • Many colonies, since the bacteria became resistant when they met it
    • Many colonies, since the 3 colonies came from resistant bacteria
    • Many colonies, since the medicine became weaker over time
  4. Jun reads the moth chart. From 1959 to 1984, light moths went from 6 to 30 per 100 as trees regained their pale look. What explains it?

    • The cleaner air made the moths grow lighter
    • The whole group switched to light in one year
    • Dark moths turned light to match the bark
    • Light moths matched the bark, so more survived and had young
  5. Kira reads the finch chart. After the wet year, the average beak depth fell from 9.4 mm to 9.1 mm. What explains it?

    • The whole group had smaller beaks after one season
    • Small-beaked finches had more young, so the average fell
    • The wet weather made the beaks grow smaller
    • Each finch's beak shrank to fit the small seeds
  6. Milo reads that farmers saved seeds from wild cabbage plants with the biggest flower buds and replanted them, year after year. Which kind of selection is this?

    • Natural selection: the weather chose which plants made seeds
    • Artificial selection: the plants grew bigger buds on purpose
    • Natural selection: the plants changed to suit the farm
    • Artificial selection: people chose which plants made seeds
  7. Pia sorts cases into natural selection and artificial selection. Which case is natural selection?

    • A farmer planted seeds from the curliest kale
    • A gardener saved seeds from the tallest sunflowers
    • A class kept seeds from the reddest radishes for a fair
    • Light moths matched pale bark and left more young
  8. Ren compares the two rows of the moth chart. How many more light moths per 100 were there in 1984 than in 1959?

    • 24 more per 100
    • 36 more per 100
    • 6 more per 100
    • 30 more per 100
  9. Tala compares the finch generations after the wet year. How did the average beak depth change from Generation 1 to Generation 2?

    • 3.0 mm shallower
    • 0.7 mm shallower
    • 0.3 mm shallower
    • 0.3 mm deeper
  10. Zee counts colonies on two plates with the same antibiotic. How many times as many colonies grew on Plate 3 as on Plate 2?

    • 450 times as many
    • 5 times as many
    • 50 times as many
    • 147 times as many
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7th grade How helpful traits become more common over many generations worksheet – printable
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About this worksheet

Natural selection: how helpful traits become more common over generations. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can name the steps of natural selection: individuals vary, traits are inherited, more young are made than can survive, and those with helpful traits have more young.
  • I can read a value from a comparison chart or bar graph of generations and say how a trait changed.
  • I can say that individuals do not change their bodies to fit; the population changes over generations.
  • I can explain three real cases: Galapagos finch beaks after the 1977 drought, peppered moths and soot, and bacteria on a plate with an antibiotic.
  • I can tell natural selection from artificial selection, where people choose which plants or animals have young.

Standard: MS-LS4-4, MS-LS4-6

Words to know

variation: Differences in a trait among living things of one kind

inherited trait: A trait passed from parents to young through genes

adaptation: An inherited trait that helps a living thing survive and have young where it lives

generation: A group of living things born around the same time

natural selection: Helpful inherited traits become more common over generations

artificial selection: People choose which plants or animals have young

resistant bacteria: Bacteria that can grow even with an antibiotic present

model data: Numbers made up to show an idea

Common mistakes

Your child thought a living thing changes its own body because it needs to. Try a finch or a moth: each one keeps its beak or color for life. Ask, 'Which individuals had more young?'

Your child thought a need or the weather causes a new trait. Try asking, 'Was the trait already in some of them before the change?' Say that a drought picks among traits that already exist.

Your child put the resistance in the medicine or the plate instead of in the bacteria. Try a plate: a few bacteria could already grow with the antibiotic. Ask, 'Which bacteria could already grow with it?'

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with how helpful traits become more common over many generations?

Your child thought a living thing changes its own body because it needs to. Try a finch or a moth: each one keeps its beak or color for life. Ask, 'Which individuals had more young?'

Are these 7th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

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