Name_________________________ Date Period
1.
What is the title of the reading passage?
2.
What is the purpose of this text?
3.
Highlight the headings in yellow
4.
Read the text
5.
What is this text mostly about?
6.
Discuss: Share your thoughts with your partner.
7.
Read the text again.
8.
Underline the topic sentence in each paragraph in RED.
9.
Circle in BLUE 2-3 key words in each paragraph
10.
Go back to the text again, looking for evidence that will help you construct a Venn diagram.
11.
Draw a Venn diagram. Label one circle Acquired Traits and the other circle Inherited Traits.
12.
Use the following words somewhere in your diagram. o Heredity o Genetics o DNA o Environmental conditions
13.
On a blank sheet of paper, write two paragraphs summarizing the differences between acquired and inherited traits citing evidence from the text.

Terms to Know o Heredity o Genetics o Inherited trait o Acquired trait o Traits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhelps/3192082 0 /
The above puppies are offspring from the same parents. The term offspring refers to the new individuals created from parents. Why don't the puppies look identical to each other? Do you think they are identical to their parents? Or do you think they have some traits from their mother and some from their father?
Just as you don't look exactly like your parents, neither do these puppies.
Has anyone ever told you, “You have your father’s eyes”? Or, “You have red hair like your grandmother; it must have skipped a generation.” This idea that traits skip a generation is false. Traits are passed from parent to offspring. Even though it may not show in one generation, the gene is still present even though it is not expressed (seen). You don't look identical to your parents or to your grandparents.
But many of their traits are passed down to you and chances are you can identify a few traits that you got from each of your parents and grandparents.. Genetics is the study of inheritance. The field of genetics seeks to explain how traits are passed on from one generation to the next.

HEREDITY: PASSING ON TRAITS
Have you ever wondered why some people throw a baseball or softball with their left hand when most others use their right hand? Why do some people write with their left and others their right? The answer to these questions is heredity. Heredity is the passing of traits and characteristics from parents to their offspring. Genetics is the study of how traits are passed from parents to their offspring.
GENETICS: THE STUDY OF INHERITANCE
Over the past few decades, the field of genetics has grown into one of the most interesting and popular areas of Science. Research is currently underway that will make great advances in medicine, agriculture, and many other branches of Science. Why do you think people are so fascinated with genetics and heredity?
What does the word
"inherit" mean? To inherit is to receive something from someone who came before you. You may have inherited something of value from a grandparent or another family member. A trait is a characteristic that describes an organism. You can inherit objects, but you can also inherit traits. This means your DNA determines it. If you inherit a trait from your parents, you can be inheriting their eye color, hair color, or even the shape of your nose and ears! A specific haircut or a scar also describes a trait you might have, but this is acquired or received during your lifetime and not passed on to future offspring through the DNA code.
ACQUIRED AND INHERITED TRAITS
There is an argument about what causes people to be like they are that is older than the study of genetics. The argument is over the influence of a person’s genetics versus the influence of the environment that the person grows up in. Which one is the strongest in determining what a person will be like? Traits that are received through heredity are called inherited traits and those that are that are developed during a person’s lifetime are called acquired traits.
Why is Lebron James such a great basketball player? What makes the same people win the same events year after year? As you might suppose, genetics plays a major role in the things that a person is able to do. A world class sprinter would normally have an inherited muscle structure that provides the ability to run fast. A marathon champion would probably have a genetic make-up that helped provide the ability to run at a quick pace for a long time. Traits that are passed on through heredity are called
inherited traits. Many professional athletes inherited genetics that made it possible for them to be as good as they are at their sport, but they only inherited natural ability and must still develop those skills in order to be good

Heredity can only give a person an edge, it does not mean that they will be great or that someone without those fantastic genes cannot succeed. Naturally, the ability to be a super athlete is not the only inherited trait. There are millions of traits in humans that are passed on from parents to their offspring. Your looks, your size, and many of your attitudes and the ways that you do things were inherited from your parents.
Many traits that we have are developed or chosen. Acquired traits are traits that are developed through environmental conditions, practice, choices, or possibly accident. The language you speak, your culture, and your interests are acquired traits. If you had been born in France to French parents, you would have learned to speak French instead of English. If you had been born in Japan, you would have developed Japanese language and cultural traits. The fact that traits can be acquired means that many people are able to do many things that do not come easily to them. They simply need to work harder to develop those traits.
The environment that an organism lives in can have a big impact on how inherited traits are developed or expressed. Even though people in countries that have food shortages have the genetics to be taller, those genes rarely are expressed to their full potential because of a lack of good nutrition. Many other inherited traits have similar environmental challenges as well. If you have blonde hair and all of the genes you carry are for blonde hair, what will your children be like if you dye your hair brown? Will they have blonde hair or brown hair? What if a person is in a car accident and as a result of the accident they lose an arm? Will that person’s children be born without an arm? Dying hair and losing a limb in an accident are examples of acquired traits. Acquired traits are not passed on genetically. The only traits that these people will pass on to their children will be the ones that they inherited from their parents. So, since Lebron James and Payton Manning are such great athletes does that mean that their children will be just as great? The answer to this is, maybe. Both of these men have genetics that made it possible for them to accomplish the things that they did and they will pass some of those genetics on to any children that they have. But, it was only after many hours of hard work that they were able to take advantage of their skills and do those great things. To sum it all up: some traits are inherited (nature) and some traits are acquired (environment).
In most cases it is a combination of both that determine what a person is and what they are good