Octopods, Squids, and Other Cephalopods

Introduction

National Middle School Science Standards

Life Science, Earth Science

Key Terms

marine biodiversity, cephalopod, octopod, live ship feed, taxonomy

Key Concepts

• Biodiversity of cephalopods 
• Deep ocean discovery 
• Getting data from live ship feeds 
• Classification of living things 
• Technology used by marine zoologists 

Resource Types

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

The Cephalopods resources support students in meeting the following middle school NGSS Performance Expectations:

Life Science

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

• MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

• MS-LS2-2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

• MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

• MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Earth Science

MS-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity

• MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.