Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Children Resemble Their Parents
Gregor Mendel's work revolutionized agriculture from an art to a science. Explore Mendel's work with an interactive lesson that includes animations, video, and practice problems. The instruction describes the early discoveries that...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Genes Come in Pairs
Mendel was the first to look at individual traits within a species. Step in his shoes as an interactive lesson takes users through his journey. An animation describes the design of his experiments and how he isolated individual traits to...
University of Colorado
Punnett Squares with Piebald Deer
Explore the science behind Earth's amazing diversity of life with this lesson plan on genetics. Looking at specific traits in piebald deer, carnations, and roan cattle, young scientists use Punnett squares to determine the possible...
Curated OER
7.012 Genetics Section Problems
A set of phenotypes is listed for mice, flowers, blood type, and plants. For each, biology buffs analyze the percentages of phenotypes in the offspring and then identify the genotypes of the parents. This is a different approach to...
Curated OER
Mendel Pea Plants
In this Mendelian genetics activity, students answer a variety of questions about Mendel's experiments and discoveries and they practice determining probability of outcomes in pea plants.
Curated OER
Inheritance Patterns in Zorks
In this inheritance patterns worksheet, students create a visual of a Zork using chromosome strips to represent alleles from the father and the mother to determine the traits in the offspring. Students translate the genotype to the...
Curated OER
Peanut Butter Broccoli - Creating New Produce Through Genetic Selection
Fifth graders understand that traits are inherited and change over time. In this physical traits lesson plan, 5th graders compare produce items for similar traits. Students create large graphs to show their results. Students discuss...
Curated OER
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...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Genes Don't Blend
Yellow and blue make green—unless you're studying the inheritance of genetic traits. An interactive lesson explains the difference between blended traits and pure traits and gives examples of their occurrence. The resource includes a...
Virginia Department of Education
Mendelian Genetics
How did Mendel know which pea plants would demonstrate certain characteristics? Pupils explore the answer this question, among others, as they complete Punnet squares, research dominant and recessive traits, and explore hereditary...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Chromosomes Carry Genes
Some traits only exist in males and some only in females. Pupils learn how the location of genes on sex chromosomes determines them using an interactive lesson. An animation illustrates how scientists know this to be true and shows how...
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Evolution Begins with the Inheritance of Gene Variations
Connect Mendelian genetics with Darwinian theories. An interactive lesson lets pupils explore how George Shull used research from other scientists to explore genetic variation. The resource outlines the statistical analysis of genetic...
Curated OER
Genetics - The Study of Inheritance
For this genetics worksheet, students will compare four pea plants with different alleles that control flower color and complete 5 short answer questions. Then students will read 8 statements about genetic mutations and determine if the...
Curated OER
Genetics Basics
For this basics of genetics worksheet, students review the concepts of genetic inheritance by writing the alleles for genetic traits inherited in offspring. They identify dominant and recessive traits given allele pairs, answer five...
Curated OER
Applying the Laws of Inheritance
Biology and mathematics can be integrated through a study of Mendelian Genetics.
Curated OER
Bird Buffet
Fifth graders study traits of different bird beaks. In this bird lesson, 5th graders explore the function and usefulness of different inherited traits of birds.
Curated OER
Ecology - Reproduction and heredity
Students correlate signs of spring with reproductive strategies of varioius organisms. They describe how organisms inherit traits from generation to generation.
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.
Curated OER
Genetics
Become familiar with the basic concepts of inheritance. Your junior high students work through mulitple examples of crosses and calculate probabilities of trait occurance. The explain the concept that each parent contributes one half of...
Curated OER
Chalkboard Challenge
Here's a terrific Jeopardy-style game that's designed for 3rd and 4th grade students of science. The topics include living things, animals, plants, matter, and "hodge-podge." The questions are all age appropriate, and there is an...
University of California
Artificially Selecting Dogs
Selective breeding has resulted in some novel and beautiful or useful dogs over the years. Using the American Foxhound as an example, genetics learners find out how and why they came about. Then, in small groups, they select breeds to...
Curated OER
Flower Power: An Introduction to Heredity
Students observe flowers and how they grow according to heredity. In this flowers lesson plan, students observe physical traits that make flowers the offspring of other flowers, and fill out worksheets according to their findings.
It's About Time
Adaptations
Congratulations! You exist, thanks to the wonders of biology and adaptations. The focus of the lesson explains many adaptations of plants and animals and how the environment has influenced the process. A hands-on activity demonstrates...
Curated OER
Mendelian Genetics
Although these slides seem full of text, the information is bulleted and clear. There is a list of vocabulary and then two slides to define examples of Mendelian inheritance and rules of probability. The remaining five slides look at...