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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 - Challenge Me

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    Use the table

    Three rounds of an antibiotic on a lab plate (model data). Agar plate diagram, zones: Zone 1: Round 1: antibiotic on the plate | a few small colonies; Zone 2: Round 2: bacteria from those colonies, same antibiotic | many colonies; Zone 3: Round 3: bacteria from the Round 2 colonies, same antibiotic | colonies cover most of the plate. Comparison chart.

    RoundAble to grow with the antibiotic (per 1,000 bacteria)
    Round 13
    Round 2480
    Round 3910

    Bar graph: x axis Round; y axis Able to grow with the antibiotic (per 1,000), ticks every 200 from 0 to 1000. Bars: Round 1 3; Round 2 480; Round 3 910.

  2. Ari reads the three plates and the chart together. Which claim fits both?

    • Bacteria that could already grow with it became more common
    • The medicine got weaker, so more bacteria grew
    • Each bacterium changed itself to resist the antibiotic in Round 1
    • The whole group became resistant in Round 2
  3. The chart shows 3 per 1,000 in Round 1 and 480 per 1,000 in Round 2. Bo asks where the Round 2 resistant bacteria came from. What fits the plates?

    • The few in Round 1 multiplied and passed the trait on
    • The bacteria needed to resist it, so they grew resistance
    • The medicine got weaker in Round 2
    • The trait reached the whole group at once
  4. Esme plans Round 4 with the same antibiotic. Using the plates and the chart, what will Round 4 most likely show?

    • More grow, since the medicine gets weaker each round
    • Fewer grow, since each bacterium slowly loses its resistance over time
    • Few grow, since bacteria of this kind are stopped by it
    • Most still grow, since resistant bacteria are most of the group
  5. Dark moths helped in 1895, yet light moths rose after the clean-air laws. Jun asks how that fits natural selection. Which explanation fits?

    • A trait helps where it matches the place, and the bark changed
    • Dark moths turned light when the air cleared, to match the bark
    • The change finished within a single year
    • Clean air made light moths appear from nowhere
  6. Seeds saved in 1997 and 2004 were grown together in one greenhouse, yet the 2004 plants flowered earlier. Luz asks what that shows. What fits?

    • The greenhouse was warmer for the 2004 plants
    • They grew in the same place, so the difference is inherited
    • The drought made the seeds flower earlier in the greenhouse
    • Each plant hurried its own flowers after the drought
  7. Milo says: "The moths needed light wings, so they grew light wings after the air cleared." What is the flaw?

    • A need does not cause a trait, and light moths were already there
    • No flaw, since moths that need to match will quickly change their wings
    • The flaw is that bark cannot become lighter
    • The flaw is that the light form took a single year
  8. Noah says: "Each finch grew a deeper beak during the drought, so the average beak depth rose." Which flaw fits the chart?

    • The flaw is that beak depth cannot vary, so the average cannot rise
    • No flaw, since each finch changed its beak to fit the large seeds
    • Beaks do not grow to fit; deeper-beaked finches had more young
    • The flaw is that seeds do not matter to a beak
  9. Pia says: "The plants flowered earlier because the drought made them need to." Which flaw fits the chart?

    • The flaw is that the whole group changed in one year
    • No flaw, since each plant sped up its own flowering to escape the dry weather
    • The flaw is that the drought lasted several years
    • A need does not cause a trait; early-flowering plants had more young
  10. Ren reads the moth chart for 1959 and 1984. Which claim and reason fit it?

    • Light moths became common in one year; selection is instant
    • Light moths stayed rare; the moths share one color and cannot vary
    • Dark moths became light; each moth changed to match the clean bark
    • Light moths rose; those matching pale bark had more young
  11. Zee reads the flowering chart for both sites. Which claim and reason fit it?

    • Flowering stayed the same; the plants share one flowering time
    • Flowering moved earlier; the plants needed to escape the dry weather
    • Flowering moved earlier; early-flowering plants had more young
    • Flowering moved earlier; each plant sped up its own flowers
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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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