5.3.12.D.3.c
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Sample Lesson Plan for Science
Ninth through Twelfth Grade
Goal: The student will develop life skills in the area of heredity and reproduction.
CPI: Demonstrate through modeling how the sorting and recombination of genes during sexual reproduction has an effect on variation
in offspring. 5.3.12.D.3
ACSSSD Objective: Identify the ways in which parents and offspring are similar. 5.3.12.D.3.c
Activity: “Alike, But Not the Same”. The students will complete An Inventory of a Few Human Traits by listing their phenotype for
13 human traits. That night, the students will have their parents complete the inventory and count how many traits are similar and
different. The following class, the students will compare their data with their classmates. Then, the students will enter their data on
four sets of labeled axes (sex, number of noses, height, hair color) prepared by the teacher. The students will continue the activity
above from the National Institutes of Health http://science-education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/Genetic/guide/activity1.htm. The
activity will show students: how similar humans are compared to other organisms, how similar parents and their offspring are
compared to humans that are not related, and how different humans can be when compared to other humans. The students will answer
the questions on the worksheet Thinking About Human Variation.
Modifications
1. The students will watch
BrainPOP videos on heredity and
genetics to introduce the topic.
Discuss what genes are and how
they affect an individual’s
characteristics (mention
recessive and dominant genes).
Discuss heredity and why there
are similarities between people
who are related. The students
will complete a modified version
Materials
1. Computer
Smartboard
BrainPOP video on Genetics
http://www.brainpop.com/health/
geneticsgrowthanddevelopment/genetics/
BrainPOP video on Heredity
http://www.brainpop.com/health/
geneticsgrowthanddevelopment/heredity/
National Institutes of Health website
listed above
Modified inventory
Assessment
1. Rubric
Cross Content Areas
Language Arts
Technology
5.3.12.D.3.c
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of An Inventory of a Few Human
Traits by listing their phenotype
for 8 human traits. That night,
the students will have their
parents complete the inventory
and count how many traits are
similar and different. The
following class, the students will
compare their data with their
classmates to identify the ways
that parents and their offspring
are similar.
2. The class is divided into small
groups with one staff member
assigned to each group. The
students will watch one of the
BrainPOP videos listed above
and discuss the content in the
small group. The students will
complete An Inventory of a Few
Human Traits by listing their
phenotype for 5 human traits
with verbal prompts from the
staff member. That night, the
students will have their parents
complete the inventory. The
following class, the students will
count the traits that are similar to
their parents with verbal and
physical prompts from the staff.
2. Computer
Smartboard
BrainPOP video on Genetics
http://www.brainpop.com/health/
geneticsgrowthanddevelopment/genetics/
BrainPOP video on Heredity
http://www.brainpop.com/health/
geneticsgrowthanddevelopment/heredity/
National Institutes of Health website
listed above
Modified inventory
2. Rubric
5.3.12.D.3.c
3. The teacher will make a set of
teacher created pictures showing
distinctive human traits in young
and middle age “people”.
Students will point to or circle
the similar traits when given two
pictures (one “child” and one
“parent”) with physical prompts.
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3. Teacher created pictures showing
distinctive human traits in young and
middle age “people”
3. Rubric