Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Evolution and Natural Selection ~ Item EN023001 ~ Student Performance

According to the theory of natural selection, what would happen to a species of lizards when a new predator is introduced into the environment where the lizards live?

The lizards that already have the physical traits needed to avoid the new predator would be more likely to survive and reproduce, and the ones that do not would be less likely to survive and reproduce.
All of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator.
Some of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator, and the other lizards would die.
Because all lizards of the same species have the same physical traits, one lizard would not have an advantage over another lizard. They would either all survive or all die.

Pre-Test

Distribution of responses (prior to studying evolution in high school)
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades		Gender		Primary Language
		n = 572	6–8 n = 18	9–12 n = 502	Male n = 245	Female n = 283	English n = 511	Other n = 18
A.	The lizards that already have the physical traits needed to avoid the new predator would be more likely to survive and reproduce, and the ones that do not would be less likely to survive and reproduce.	40%	33%	41%	38%	42%	41%	44%
B.	All of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator.	21%	17%	21%	25%	17%	20%	39%
C.	Some of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator, and the other lizards would die.	25%	44%	25%	24%	27%	26%	17%
D.	Because all lizards of the same species have the same physical traits, one lizard would not have an advantage over another lizard. They would either all survive or all die.	14%	6%	14%	13%	13%	14%	0%

Post-Test (Control)

Distribution of responses (following typical high school instruction on evolution)
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades		Gender		Primary Language
		n = 274	6–8 n = 14	9–12 n = 230	Male n = 119	Female n = 130	English n = 237	Other n = 9
A.	The lizards that already have the physical traits needed to avoid the new predator would be more likely to survive and reproduce, and the ones that do not would be less likely to survive and reproduce.	57%	71%	56%	56%	57%	56%	67%
B.	All of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator.	11%	21%	10%	13%	9%	11%	0%
C.	Some of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator, and the other lizards would die.	26%	7%	29%	24%	29%	27%	22%
D.	Because all lizards of the same species have the same physical traits, one lizard would not have an advantage over another lizard. They would either all survive or all die.	5%	0%	5%	7%	5%	5%	11%

Post-Test (Treatment)

Distribution of responses (following completion of an evolution curriculum module)
Answer Choice		Overall	Grades		Gender		Primary Language
		n = 278	6–8 n = 4	9–12 n = 248	Male n = 130	Female n = 131	English n = 251	Other n = 5
A.	The lizards that already have the physical traits needed to avoid the new predator would be more likely to survive and reproduce, and the ones that do not would be less likely to survive and reproduce.	59%	100%	58%	58%	59%	59%	40%
B.	All of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator.	9%	0%	10%	10%	8%	9%	20%
C.	Some of the lizards would try to develop new physical traits to avoid the new predator, and the other lizards would die.	26%	0%	26%	25%	28%	25%	40%
D.	Because all lizards of the same species have the same physical traits, one lizard would not have an advantage over another lizard. They would either all survive or all die.	6%	0%	6%	6%	5%	6%	0%

Science Assessment

Item EN023001: When a new predator is introduced into a population of lizards, the lizards with the traits that help them avoid the predator are more likely to survive and reproduce than the others.

Pre-Test

Post-Test (Control)

Post-Test (Treatment)