Science Assessment ~ Topics ~ Evolution and Natural Selection ~ Misconception ENM033

Change to the characteristics of populations (i.e. the proportion of individuals in the population having certain traits) of organisms is always random, and is not influenced by the favorability of that change in a given environment (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).

Items that test for misconception ENM033 in this project (Original Project) and key idea (When inherited traits are favorable…)
Item ID Number	Item Description	How Often the Misconception was Chosen
EN030002	Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics when a few individual resistant bacteria survive and reproduce, passing their resistance on to the next generation.	26%
EN034003	Some organisms survive and others die as the environment changes; this changes the proportion of organisms with certain traits in that population.	14%
EN034002	Some organisms survive and others die as the environment changes; this changes the percent of organisms with certain traits in that population.	14%
EN028002	If only large seeds are available, only the birds with large enough beaks will get enough food to survive and reproduce, and they will pass the trait of large beaks to the next generation.	13%