Smithsonian Institution
Trait Tracker
Help mice beat the odds with an exciting activity about traits. Biologists discover the role of diet and other factors on animal traits by participating in a simulation activity. Teams collect and evaluate data to understand how certain...
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Basic Ideas of Inheritance
Students enter personal information into a database. The information is used to reinforce the ideas of inheritance that is found in 1st Grade Science. Access to technology is essential for this lesson. Adding the use of a mirror for...
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Trait Variations for Survival
Young learners examine how different traits could give one organism an advantage over another. In groups, they view two different organisms in different environments. To end the lesson, they complete a Venn Diagram on the two organisms...
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Is Our Health Inherited or Acquired?
Fifth graders list the traits they get from their parents and distinguish between inherited traits from acquired ones. They assess how to recognize influences that may affect body types and sizes and research on the internet heredity and...
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Families and Heredity
Personality traits and physical appearance traits within families are the focus here. Learners make a poster which lists the shared physical traits they have with their family. Peers look at each poster and write down the traits they see...
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Specialized Structures and Environment
Fifth graders read about how different animals protect themselves, and how characteristics give animals an advantage in their environment. Students then discuss a variety of "outer" wear for humans, and what they might choose to wear in...
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Heredity And Environment
Students complete a pre-test on the relationship between heredity and the environment. As a class, they write down descriptions of themselves and identify which traits can be changed and not changed. In groups, they determine which genes...
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Standard 4 Review Sheet-Genetics and Inheritance
In this genetics worksheet, students answer a variety of questions about inheritance, DNA, the genetic code, genes, sexual and asexual reproduction, mutations, protein synthesis and genetic engineering.
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Rock, Paper, Scissors
Fifth graders explore genetic traits. In this genetic traits lesson, 5th graders investigate dominant and recessive traits. Students identify similar traits between a parent organism and its offspring.
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Reproduction and Heredity
Sixth graders investigate how traits are passed from parents to their offspring. They list things they have in common with family members, read key vocabulary terms, create a poster of shared physical and personality traits, and watch...
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Pets: Oh Behave
Students develop an understanding of how innate and learned behaviors and the environment determine behavior. They see how a variety of factors affects our pet's behavior-including species-specific traits, the environment, training, and...
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A Bug's Life: Diary of an Insect's Metamorphosis
Fifth graders examine the stages of insect's to understand heredity. In this inherited traits lesson, 5th graders explore the life of the honeybee for its inherited traits. Students recognize the difference between inherited traits and...
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Fruit Fly Ranch Activity
Seventh graders describe how the traits of an organism are passed from generation to generation. They distinguish between asexual and sexul reproduction. Students identify traits through genes and those resulting from interactions with...
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Genetics
Comprehend that many human characteristics-all physical traits and possibly many personality traits-are determined by our genetic makeup. These activities demonstate that all physical traits are genetically determined, some evidence...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Migration, Adaptation, and Changing Climates
It is easy for humans to adapt to changing environments, but how do animals and plants do it? Classes discuss how plants and animals deal with environmental changes in the second of seven lessons. Through questions and discussions,...
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Alien Behaviors
Second graders identify human characteristics and classify them as inherited traits or learned traits.
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Nature and Nurture
Pupils look into the role both nature and nurture play in determining an individual's traits. They examine how genes and the environment affect personality
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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.
Personal Genetics Education Project
Scientific Themes in Personal Genetics
Humans can be tested for the presence of the BRCA gene, whose presence is an indicator that they have a greater chance of acquiring breast cancer than someone without the gene. Viewers have an opportunity to explore how genes and...
Give and Let Live
Blood and Transplant: Organs
Who donates organs, and how do organ donations work? The third lesson in a four-part series discusses the tremendous need for donor organs of all ages and backgrounds. A variety of materials, included with the teacher's guide, walk...
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The Illusion of Race
This is mostly an exploration of race through an interactive website, class readings, and discussion. Individuals take an online quiz about race, they answer questions on a worksheet by visiting another website, and discover that race is...
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Creeping and Crawling Observing Mealworms and Earthworms
Young scholars observe the inherited traits in earthworms and mealworms. In this organisms lesson, students view a live mealworm and earthworm on a tray and identify the body parts. Young scholars measure the worms and observe the...
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Patterns of Heredity
Students describe the differences between incomplete dominance and codominant alleles, and between multiple alleles and polygenic inheritance. They describe how internal and external environments affect gene expression. They then...
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It's Genetic--Or Is It?
Students identify examples of the interplay between genes and environment on certain traits and discuss how the Human Genome Project has led to a greater understanding of the role of genes on complex traits.