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Heredity, A Link to Your Past!

Click on the lesson plan title to view the Adobe Acrobat file and also visit the web sites to get additional resources.

Lesson Plans
Bird Buffet (339KB)  
  Compare the traits of similar species for physical abilities, instinctual behaviors, and specialized body structures that increase the survival of one species in a specific environment over another species.



Heredity, A Link to Your Past!
A Bug's Life (868KB)
  Students compare various examples of offspring that do not initially resemble the parent organism but mature to become similar to the parent organism; students also contrast inherited traits with traits and behaviors that are not inherited but may be learned or induced by environmental factors.

Comparing Apples and Onions (241KB)
  Students identify various traits among a given population; the passing of traits from parent to offspring is called heredity.

Creeping and Crawling: Observing Mealworms and
Earthworms
(501KB)
  This lesson examines lifecycles and metamorphosis. Explore how offspring go through life cycle changes to eventually look like their parent(s).

The Living Corn Necklace (410KB)
  Students will investigate variations and similarities in plants grown from seeds.

Flower Power (748KB)
  Students will investigate variations and similarities in plants grown from seeds of a power plant; cross-pollination and self-pollination.

Paint's Family Tree (575KB)
  Students identify similar physical traits of a parent organism and its offspring; all living things inherit a set of characteristics or traits from their parents.

Peanut Butter Broccoli (223KB)
  The activity in this introductory heredity lesson illustrates how the various traits in fruits and vegetables could potentially be combined to produce new foods. Selective breeding and genetic engineering are introduced in a very simple manner that demonstrates how the desired traits of one species can be incorporated into another species to potentially give us new useful plants and animals.

Rock, Paper, Scissors (238KB)
  Students will understand that traits are passed from the parent organisms to their offspring, and that sometimes the offspring may possess variations of these traits that may help or hinder survival in a given environment.

Specialized Structures & Environments (213KB)
  Variations are differences in appearance of an inherited trait among members of a species. These variations give a species (a group of plants or animals that can only reproduce among themselves) a better chance to live, or a survival advantage.


Additional Resources
The Honey Files
Click to see bigger image - The Honey Files - A Bee's Life "The Honey Files" is a comprehensive video and educational guide. The 20-minute videotape and 96-page teacher's guide will enhance your heredity unit by giving you an in-depth look at the life and importance of honey bees and pollination. Materials include classroom activities and worksheets.
Download the Teacher's Guide.
View a one-minute movie clip

Unit Assessment

The Gene Scene

Honey Bee Study Prints
Twelve color enlargements depicting various honey bee behavioral characteristics and beekeeping scenes.
Free loan from Utah AITC.
Click here to order.

The Living Corn Necklace Kit
This kit contains enough materials for 60 students to plant a seed and create a living necklace.
Purchase for $6.00 from Utah AITC.
Click here to order.


 
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