MS-LS4-5: How People Shape the Traits of Plants and Animals
Also called NGSS MS-LS4-5 · Topic: Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms · Life Science
The Official Wording
Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy); and, on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What MS-LS4-5 Means in Plain English
Middle schoolers research how people have steered which traits get passed on, from choosing the best plants and animals to breed, to moving genes in a lab, to gene therapy in medicine. They gather facts from reliable sources and combine them into one clear account.
Students also weigh how these technologies affect society, such as food supply, cost and safety debates. This builds on natural selection (MS-LS4-4) and on mutations (MS-LS3-1), and leads to high school genetics (HS-LS3-1).
MS-LS4-5 I Can Statements
- I can explain how selective breeding changes traits over generations.
- I can describe how genetic engineering changes an organism's traits.
- I can judge whether a source is reliable before I use it.
MS-LS4-5 Worked Example
A research project that follows corn from a wild grass to a modern lab-bred crop.
How have people changed corn, and what tools let them change it faster?
Set It Up: A source log, university extension and science agency websites, and photos of a teosinte ear next to a modern corn ear.
- Compare the two ears in the photos and list the differences.Teosinte: about 5 to 12 hard kernels
- Find when and where farmers first bred corn from teosinte.Southern Mexico, about 9,000 years ago
- Look up hybrid corn and when it spread across American farms.1930s and 1940s, much higher yields
- Look into Bt corn and how it was made.A bacterium gene added, first sold in 1996
- Rate every source in the log and drop any that cannot be checked.Author, date, evidence: yes or no
- Write a timeline with one benefit and one concern for each tool.Breeding, hybrids, engineering, editing
Corn changed slowly for thousands of years through breeding, then much faster once people could move or edit genes directly.
Why it works: Every method decides which genes get passed on, but lab tools let people choose one gene instead of waiting many generations.
Common Mistakes with MS-LS4-5
Thinking only labs change genes
“People started changing crops when GMOs were invented.”
Try this: Selective breeding also changes which genes pass on. Farmers have shaped crops and animals this way for thousands of years.
Trusting any website
Citing an unsigned post with no sources
Try this: Check who wrote it, when, and what evidence it gives. Prefer universities, science agencies and named experts.
Listing facts without a synthesis
Six copied facts, one per source, with no link between them
Try this: Combine the sources into one account in your own words that explains how the methods connect and what changed over time.
Where MS-LS4-5 Fits
Practice MS-LS4-5
Quick Check
- How did people breed dogs with very different traits?
- What makes genetic engineering different from selective breeding?
- Name one benefit and one concern of genetically engineered crops.