Submitted as part of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) Phase 3 Digital Textbook Initiative (CA DTI3), CK-12 Foundation's high school Biology FlexBook covers cell biology, genetics, evolution, ecology, botany, zoology, and physiology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

CK-12's Life Science delivers a full course of study in the life sciences for the middle school student, relating an understanding of the history, disciplines, tools, and modern techniques of science to the exploration of cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, evolution, prokaryotes, protists,fungi, plants, animals, invertebrates, vertebrates, human biology, and ecology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

CK-12's Life Science delivers a full course of study in the life sciences for the middle school student, relating an understanding of the history, disciplines, tools, and modern techniques of science to the exploration of cell biology, genetics, evolution, prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, the animal kingdom, the human body, and ecology. This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.

Students investigate the probability of people who can/cannot curl their tongues. Students record data, conduct experiments and can trace the trait in their own families as they examine the concept of genetic traits. Use and practice of Punnett Squares as well as extension/remediation activities offer options to tailor instruction to students' learning levels.

In this lesson plan from the Utah Education Network, students will use pictures of organisms and their offspring to compare inheritance between offspring of sexual and asexual reproduction. The lesson includes pictures and a student sheet.

This news brief from October 2010 examines new research that makes it clear that Tibetan highlanders have not just acclimated to their mountain home; evolutionary adaptations have equipped them with unique physiological mechanisms for dealing with low oxygen levels.

Studying the Fibonacci Sequence is our entry point for studying Heredity: Inheritance and variation of traits.

Fundamentals of Biology focuses on the basic principles of biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and recombinant DNA. These principles are necessary to understanding the basic mechanisms of life and anchor the biological knowledge that is required to understand many of the challenges in everyday life, from human health and disease to loss of biodiversity and environmental quality.

Students will explore hybridization, selective breeding and genetic engineering through a jigsaw approach. Then they will go through a series of articles that help them formulate their own opinions about genetic manipulation. Lastly, they will debate the merits of genetic manipulation as a class.

This OLogy activity takes a look at some of the more amusing traits that are determined by genetics. Students answer four yes/no questions, and then compare their answers with others.

This news brief from April 2007 describes the genetics of lactose intolerance and how the trait is expressed in various human populations. This article includes a set of discussion and extension questions for use in class. It also includes hints about related lessons that might be used in conjunction with this one.

Students randomly select jelly beans (or other candy) that represent genes for several human traits such as tongue-rolling ability and eye color. Then, working in pairs (preferably of mixed gender), students randomly choose new pairs of jelly beans from those corresponding to their own genotypes. The new pairs are placed on toothpicks to represent the chromosomes of the couple's offspring. Finally, students compare genotypes and phenotypes of parents and offspring for all the "couples" in the class. In particular, they look to see if there are cases where parents and offspring share the exact same genotype and/or phenotype, and consider how the results would differ if they repeated the simulation using more than four traits.

This professional resource outlines the key concepts about this topic and provides tips for relating the concepts to young students. The resource addresses both plants and animals, as well as similarities in appearance and behavior.

Using this resource, students explore the topics of genetics and medical/pharmaceutical biotechnology through a real world simulation. Students use hands on, inquiry based lessons to explore this emerging field of science. Students will discover and apply their knowledge of genetics, heredity, DNA, dominant and recessive traits, Mendel's laws, punnett squares and more to understand current and future uses of biotechnology.

The Genetics Student Edition book is one of ten volumes making up the Human Biology curriculum, an interdisciplinary and inquiry-based approach to the study of life science.

Students explore the issues of ethics in medical research and, in particular, the issue of informed consent, in the context of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells. This lesson uses the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot.

In this exercise, students complete a simulation of human karyotyping using digital images of chromosomes from actual human genetic studies. They will arrange chromosomes into a completed karyotype, and interpret their findings just as if they were working in a genetic analysis program at a hospital or clinic.

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 breed fruit flies through several generations and record their data using mathematical models in order to demonstrate the inheritance of trait variations.