Environmental changes and natural selection are central to understanding how populations of organisms change over generations. This Grade 7 science resource focuses on the relationship between changing environmental conditions and natural selection, introducing students to an important concept in life science.

Explore the Connection Between Environment and Survival

Environmental conditions can influence which organisms survive and reproduce. Studying environmental changes alongside natural selection gives students an opportunity to explore how populations respond to changes in their surroundings and why certain characteristics may become more common over generations.

The topic provides a foundation for discussing adaptation, survival and changes in populations, helping students connect environmental conditions with the processes that shape living organisms over time.

Resource at a Glance

• Subject: Science
• Grade level: Grade 7
• Main topic: Environmental Changes and Natural Selection
• Resource type: Science worksheet
• Curriculum reference: NGSS (2013), performance expectation MS-LS4-5

Classroom Use

Use this resource during a middle school life science unit on natural selection and environmental influences. It can support classroom instruction, individual student practice or a review lesson focused on how environmental conditions relate to survival and changes in populations.

Teachers can also use the worksheet to introduce the topic before a deeper investigation of natural selection or revisit the concept as students develop their understanding of evolutionary processes.

Curriculum Context

The supplied curriculum reference is the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), 2013, MS-LS4-5. This performance expectation provides the curriculum context for the resource's environmental change and natural selection topic. The listing identifies the supplied standard code without assuming additional standards or unverified curriculum components.

A focused Grade 7 science resource for introducing or revisiting the relationship between environmental changes and natural selection in middle school life science.