Within the life science strand of 7th grade science, students focus on the patterns of inheritance and the potential variation among offspring. In this task, students will act as genetic counselors for Nora, an individual who has learned of a genetic disorder that affects her family after attending a reunion. Students will create a pedigree for the Jamison family based on provided information and use it to explain and advise Nora. The real-world aspects of this lesson allow students to build meaningful connections and promote the development of 21st Century Skills. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

Standard: L.HE.M.2 Reproduction: I am able to describe how traits are passed on through asexual and sexual reproduction and compare the advantages and disadvantages of both types of reproduction.

Students will taste a piece of PTC paper to see if they are dominant or recessive for the trait. They will then use this information to predict the possible genotypes and phenotypes for their parents.

Students will simulate a monohybrid cross between two heterozygous parents and utilize the experimental data to develop a Punnett Square for the prediction of the offspring. Students will learn and apply knowledge of key terms of inheritance during this exercise.

In this lesson, students will collect statistical data about genetics of an individual monster and model the probability of traits in the offspring.

With this resource, students will survey their relatives and non-relatives and compare traits.

Students model how genes are passed from parents to offspring using different shaped pasta pieces.

In this series of lessons, students will understand the basics of genetics and apply their knowledge to reality-based problems. In the first lesson, students will learn about Gregor Mendel and the foundations of genetics. In the second lesson, students will learn about traits and patterns of inheritance. In the third lesson, students will learn how ratios describe heredity patterns.

This activity introduces students to pedigree analysis and how they can be used by disease researchers.

This module includes an interactive game and associated learning materials that will help students learn about mechanisms of inheritance, bringing together Mendelian inheritance and molecular genetics concepts.

In this lesson, students review traits and how they are inherited. They will then participate in a hands-on activity that demonstrates these concepts in order to help comprehension.

Students will use Punnett Squares to determine the genotypes, phenotypes, and percentages of parents and children with certain traits. Students will learn about 2 genetic disorders and determine which parents are more likely to have a child with the disease.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 7th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 7th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 7th Grade Science.  

This educational module is designed to provide a hands-on approach to learning how genetics determine the fate of a cell. This is an interactive "student-centered" module that utilizes technology, manipulatives, and hands-on activities to provide exceptional resources for teachers and a dynamic learning experience for students with various learning styles. Specifically, the lesson focuses on understanding how Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited genetic disorder, illustrates how the structure of the red blood cells affect blood flow, and explains how possible gene combinations can be passed from parents to offspring.

In this video students will visit a wheat field to learn about plant breeding, inheritance and the use of Punnett Squares for making predictions.

This resource is a lesson plan in which students will use the internet to construct and use punnett squares of monohybrid crosses to explain how genetic traits are passed to offspring.

In this lesson, students will survey their immediate family members to determine the presence of specified human traits. They will then compile personal, class, current, and cumulative data to create an excel table or spreadsheet that shows all data and calculates the percentages and ratios. The personal and cumulative percentages are then represented in a bar graph. Students will use the results from the cumulative ratios data and make inferences as to what type of human inheritance controls the appearance of the trait. Students continue their study of inherited traits by researching genetic disorders and producing a power point presentation for their class. They will be assessed on their use of technology, knowledge of content material, following appropriate scientific methods, and integrating information gained through scientific surveys and research. Students will produce a brochure as part of their final heredity assessment.