Chicago Botanic Garden
Migration, Adaptation, and Changing Climates
It is easy for humans to adapt to changing environments, but how do animals and plants do it? Classes discuss how plants and animals deal with environmental changes in the second of seven lessons. Through questions and discussions,...
Curated OER
Human Inheritance
Students analyze genetic characteristics in a given family tree through the F2 generation. Students apply prior knowledge from Gregor Mendel's study with pea plants and his Laws of Heredity to answer questions.
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Nature and Nurture
Learners look into the role both nature and nurture play in determining an individual's traits. They examine how genes and the environment affect personality
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Life Cycles
Students identify inherited traits. In this heredity lesson, students watch a video and construct a genetic description of themselves.
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Genetics Since Mendel
In this biology learning exercise, 9th graders determine whether it is possible for two alleles to produce four genotypes. Then they state how many alleles there are for blood type. Students also determine which blood type is inherited...
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Specialized Structures and Environment
Fifth graders read about how different animals protect themselves, and how characteristics give animals an advantage in their environment. Students then discuss a variety of "outer" wear for humans, and what they might choose to wear in...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Utah Open Textbook: 5th Grade Science
How do Earth's changes affect humans? Pupils learn about physical and chemical changes on Earth and how they lead to erosion, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Using the text, they also explore the concepts of electricity and magnetism by...
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Artificial Selection
The second lesson in the series begins with a starter activity discussing wild versus domesticated animals. Then, scholars play a card game, with optional variations, to emphasize artificial selection. Next, they attend a field trip to a...
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Pets: Oh Behave
They say that a dog is a man's best friend. Why is that? Discuss with your class why people like pets and the responsibilities with owning one. They read an article about pet behavior and write a short essay comparing one of their...
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The Illusion of Race
This is mostly an exploration of race through an interactive website, class readings, and discussion. Individuals take an online quiz about race, they answer questions on a worksheet by visiting another website, and discover that race is...
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Perplexing Polka Dots
Tell case study story of EMS-induced chlorophyll polka-dots in C-ferns. You will need to be familiar with the experiment, as there are some slides that have only photos, no text and no presenter's notes. By using this presentation,...
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Genetic Pamphlet with a Purpose
Students design a human genetic condition pamphlet which they present to the class and then take to a doctor's or pediatrician's office.
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Gene Puzzles
Middle schoolers come to understand that in sexually reproducing organisms, such as humans, typically half of the genes come from each parent.
Students examine a fictional pedigree and determine which gene is responsible for a given...
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When Heredity Follows Different Rules
In this heredity worksheet, students will create 3 Punnett squares to determine the genotype and phenotype of the offspring from specific breedings. Then students will answer 7 true or false questions based on chromosomes and sex-linked...
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Heredity And Environment
Students complete a pre-test on the relationship between heredity and the environment. As a class, they write down descriptions of themselves and identify which traits can be changed and not changed. In groups, they determine which...
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Pets: Oh Behave
Students develop an understanding of how innate and learned behaviors and the environment determine behavior. They see how a variety of factors affects our pet's behavior-including species-specific traits, the environment, training, and...
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It's Genetic--Or Is It?
Students identify examples of the interplay between genes and environment on certain traits and discuss how the Human Genome Project has led to a greater understanding of the role of genes on complex traits.
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The Empirical Challenges of Racial Classification
This lesson will help students examine their preconceptions and assumptions about racial categories and understand the impossibility of constructing a consistent system of human racial classification.
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Biology: Genetics and Heredity
Seventh graders explore the connection between genetics and heredity by examining the cellular structure. Among the numerous activities to engage students are drawing DNA molecules, vocabulary puzzle sheets, and predicting possible...
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Genetics/Blood Types Crossword
In this genetics worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given thirty six clues about genetic disorders, genetic inheritance and blood types.
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Exploring Learned and Innate Behavior
Compare and contrast learned and innate behaviors between humans and primates. Your biology class members read articles and participate in discussions about the use of tools and communication methods. That's about it, you'll probably...
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Here's Looking at You
High schoolers assess some common inherited traits which are easily observable and note their phenotype for the trait. Students compare their phenotypes to those of their parents and attempt to describe the pattern and manor of inheritance.
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A Tasteless Tasty Test
Students review the inheritance patterns of simple dominant and recessive traits in humans. They use PTC tasting as a model trait. Each student determines whether or not they are a taster using PTC paper then they compile and discuss the...
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Freshmen Biology Terms
In this biology worksheet, 9th graders identify and locate various vocabulary terms pertaining to ninth grade biology. There are 48 biology terms located in the word search.