Patterns Over Time

Which month(s) of the year matches this description of Earth? Choose all correct answers.

Neither pole tilts toward the sun. The number of hours of daylight and night is the same.

• March

• June

• September

• December

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

Which statement best describes how the shadow of the pole looked 4 hours earlier?

• shorter and facing east

• shorter and facing west

• longer and facing east

• longer and facing west

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

What is the name of the type of fossil that is found in organisms that have body structures that are found both in an ancestral species and in its descendants?

• Cast Fossils

• Index Fossils

• Permineralized Fossils

• Transitional Fossils

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

An area where a particular plant has thrived for 50 million years suffers a 100-year-long drought. What evidence of the drought might be found in the fossil record?

Choose the correct answer.

• Fossils of the plant are abundant right up until the present day.

• It is impossible for the fossil record to show evidence of the drought.

• Fossils of the plant appear in recent rock layers but not in older ones.

• Fossils of the plant are present in older rocks but disappear at a point in the fossil record.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

repeated sequence; arranged according to a rule or natural phenomenon; a trend in data; used to predict what comes next

• Patterns

• Ethical practices

• Environmentally appropriate practices

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

Something we observe to be similar over time.

• Data

• Pattern

• Investigation

• Experiment

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Which of the following are examples from the fossil record that show evidence of change in the complexity of organisms over time? Select all that apply.

• Single-celled organisms were present in the fossil record before multi-cellular organisms.

• Multi-cellular organisms were present in the fossil record before single-celled organisms.

• Fish with jaws were present in the fossil record before jawless fish.

• Jawless fish were present in the fossil record before fish with jaws.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

If the fossil record shows that there are no more fossils of a certain species in upper layers of sedimentary rock, what can scientists infer occurred?

• The species became extinct.

• There was a mass extinction.

• The species evolved into a new species.

• The species turned into transitional fossils.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

What is the term for a recurring sequence that can be observed in natural phenomena over time?

• Pattern

• Cycle

• Trend

• Rhythm

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

Which of the following is an example of a pattern observed in the fossil record?

• The sudden appearance of complex organisms

• The gradual change in species complexity

• The extinction of dinosaurs

• The formation of sedimentary layers

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1