Four different-shaped and dyed pasta types represent four different alleles. Following a guide sheet, young geneticists practice randomly selecting alleles and discover the traits of the resulting offspring. This is a fun and solid...

Adaptations must be made as environments change. This fabulous presentation features Icelandic icefish, a transparent, scaleless specimen that even has colorless blood. Genetics and adaptations concepts are explored as scientists study...

Designed to accompany the 13-minute video The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes, this handout serves as both a viewing guide during the video and an analysis of how the adaptations of the icefish might help treat...

Using plastic Easter eggs to represent parent phenotypes, genetics enthusiasts simulate the passing of alleles. They record the phenotype of each half of the egg, one representing the mother's and one representing the father's. They...

Investigate the Hardy-Weinberg Principle to explain genetic equilibrium. The 10th lesson plan of a series of 12 is a laboratory exploration of genetic equilibrium. Your classes use a mixture of beans to model allele and genotype...

Can peas have grandparents? Learn about inherited traits and heredity with a set of activities focused on Mendelian genetics. As your class learns about the process of passing traits along in Punnett squares, they take on the role of...

Explore the science behind Earth's amazing diversity of life with this lesson on genetics. Looking at specific traits in piebald deer, carnations, and roan cattle, young scientists use Punnett...

Explore single-gene traits in humans. After viewing a video introducing genetic vocabulary, individuals identify their phenotype and possible genotypes of specific traits. They consider both dominant and recessive traits. This is the...

It's alive! Young mad scientists create monsters as they explore the probabilities of genetic traits during a well-structured inquiry lesson. Pairs travel from station to station, rolling the dice and adding traits to their creations as...

Did she cheat on her husband? Did the hospital switch the babies? Should they have children? As much as this sounds like the plot for a soap opera, all of these questions fit into a single instructional activity on genetics. Scholars...

Eighth graders explore how different organisms pass their traits to their offspring. In this life science lesson, 8th graders differentiate recessive and dominant alleles. They predict the phenotype based on the genotype of an organism.

Students participate in an activity where they flip coins to determine which allele they pass on to the F1 generation and draw the resulting child's face. They identify several inheritance patterns including dominant, recessive,...

Pupils explore the principles of incomplete dominance and codominance in genes. They apply genetic previously discussed genetic principles to determine solutions to inheritance problems including multiple alleles, incomplete dominance...

Students explore genetic terms, the Law of Dominance and the contributions of Gregor Mendel. After discussing Mendel's lab and his pea plants students observe examples of a phenotype chart. Afterward, they conduct their own lab to...

With colored toothpicks representing genes, youngsters practice passing them through generations of fish and learn about heredity. Consider this as an introductory activity since it does not represent recessive genes with lowercase...

Tenth graders work in teams to order events of DNA transcription and translation protein synthesis. In the second lesson, they put the steps of mitosis and meiosis in order using a concept map poster. They use modeling clay to create...

Students review the concepts of incomplete dominance, co-dominance and multiple alleles. As a class, they are introduced to the concept of sex-linked genes and how they are passed to offspring. To end the lesson, they examine possible...

What makes each one of us unique? Lead your class in this exciting and educational activity as you uncover traits that show how each individual is different from another. Pupils explore facts about DNA technology and predict the...

Students study genetic traits using popsicle sticks as chromosomes. In this biology lesson, students explain how traits are inherited from parents. They differentiate dominant and recessive genes.

Students view a video that reviews Mendelian genetics. They discuss the Hardy-Weinberg Law and use Popsicle sticks to simulate genetic variations and ratios in offspring.

Students explain the difference between dominant and recessive genes, identify what causes differences in the traits of parents and their offspring, and explain how sex is determined. They will also improve their reading and...

Young scholars explore the concepts of phenotypes and genotypes.  In this genetics lesson students work together to pick a superhero and determine the traits of the offspring. 

Learners identify the different steps involved in DNA transcription. In this genetics lesson, pupils complete a worksheet and model the translation process with a paper chain activity. They watch a video on sickle cell anemia and explain...

Although the instructions include reading from a specific textbook, the tasks are appropriate for any unit dealing with how genotype frequency changes over time. Junior biologists define five vocabulary terms and then answer five...