Science·Ecosystems & Habitats·conceptual
Extinction & Rapid Change
Explain how environmental change can outpace a species' ability to adapt through natural selection, leading to extinction, using historical and contemporary examples
Suggested ages 12–14
Evidence of understanding
- Explains why extinction occurs when environmental change is faster than the rate of adaptation
- Gives a historical example (e.g. woolly mammoth, dodo) and a contemporary example of threatened extinction
- Distinguishes between background extinction rates and mass extinctions
- Explains how human activity (habitat loss, hunting, climate change) is driving current species loss
Assessment prompt
If Extinction & Rapid Change was asked why woolly mammoths no longer exist while other large mammals survived, could they explain what conditions led to the mammoth's extinction — and connect it to what's happening with endangered species today?
Standards alignment
MS-LS4-5US · ngss-ms
MS-LS4-5
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Middle School
KS3.Sci.Bio.Adaptation.2GB · uk-nc-2013
Environmental changes and extinction
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · KS3