Animal Behaviors for Survival & Reproduction Critical Thinking Prompts | Life Science | Grades 6–8

This set of Critical Thinking Prompts pushes grades 6–8 Middle School Life Science students past recall to analyze and apply Animal Behaviors for Survival & Reproduction.

Sample prompts: "A male peacock's long, heavy, iridescent tail train makes it harder to fly away from tigers and leopards and requires enormous energy to grow." and "In a classic experiment, newly hatched ducklings are divided into two groups: Group 1 hatches in the presence of their mother duck, while Group 2 hatches in an incubator…"

What's inside: 10 open-ended questions, each with a follow-up prompt, a lined student response section, an answer key, and teacher notes.

Resource type: Critical Thinking Prompts (.docx). Format: editable Microsoft Word handout with approximately 1,940 words (~8 pages).

Classroom use: written analysis, discussion prep, or a Socratic seminar in a Middle School Life Science course. Grades 6–8.

Format note: These files are delivered in Microsoft Office formats (Word and/or PowerPoint). If you open a worksheet that includes tables in Apple Pages or another non-Microsoft app, table formatting may not display correctly. For best results, use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint (or upload the file to Google Docs). If you run into any formatting issues, contact us and we can send a PDF version.