Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan
Inheritance and Variation of Traits

HS-LS3-1. Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and
chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to
offspring.
In this unit, the instruction will begin with...
*Engaging students with a real world phenomena of genetic inheritance that is thought
provoking and interesting. Students and teachers will have a class discussion about the image
then transition towards the topic of how genetic inheritance is a random process.
Showing students an images of two women:
Ask Students:
Do you think these two people are related or just friends? Explain why.
Students responses:
They are not related.
They are friends.
They can’t be related because they look nothing alike.
Teacher says:
Okay, I understand why you guys think that, but what if I were to tell you that these two women
are sisters. What do you think?
Student responses:
They are not actually related, they can be adopted.
Maybe they are half sisters; share only one parent.
Teacher:
Those are some very good ideas and are very possible. But it turns out these two women are
not only sisters, but they are in fact twins. So they are full sisters and share the same two
parents. Why do you think they look so different even though they are twins?
Student responses:
Maybe they look different because they are not identical twins, they are fraternal.
Even though they are twins they inherited different traits or characteristic from their parent
Inheritance of traits is random and they have very different traits
Teacher’s transition:
Very good, so we see that even though these two women are twins, they look very different and
have very different traits, right?
So, every single human on the planet has their very own, unique DNA which determines the
way we look. 50% of our DNA is from our mother, and 50% is from our father. So even though
these two women got their DNA from the same parent, their DNAs are very different from each
other and explains why they look so different.
Today, you guys are going to explore how DNA is inherited and learn why two twins can have
very different DNAs.
In the middle of the sequence…
Teacher will explain the directions:

Students will do and explore activity in groups of two. Each group will use a bag of jelly beans
(each color will represent a specific trait, eg. blue = blue eyes) to describe the traits of two
parents. Each parent's DNA will consist of 6 jelly beans. Describe what each parent looks like.
Next, students will mix both parents DNA (12 jelly beans) and each student will create 2 of the
children's DNA sequences by randomly selecting 6 jelly beans and putting them on a
toothpick. Then each group will draw what each sibling looks like and compare them to each
other, then to the parents traits.
Students will:
-Form groups of two
-Collect materials
-Work with partner on activity and ask teacher if they have any questions
Teacher will:
Walk around the classroom and ask students if they have questions.
Ask students back pocket questions about the activity:
-What do the jelly beans represent?
-Where do the trait/ jelly beans of the offspring come from?
-Are the toothpicks/ DNAs of the children identical or different? Are they similar?
Students will respond:

-The jelly beans represent different traits from DNA
-The traits come from the mother and the father
-The children have very different DNAs and look very different. However they have some
similar traits to their parents.
The sequence will end with…
After students finish their activity, the teacher will ask?

So we saw how two children get their DNA from the same parents but have very different and
unique DNAs from each other and they can look very different from each other. Who wants to
explain why this happens based on the activity?
Students responses:
Even though the children got their DNA or traits from their parents, they only get 50% from
each parent and the 50% they get is randomly selected, like how were randomly selected 6 of
the 12 jelly beans from the parents.
Teacher asks:
-So is inheritance of DNA from parents to offspring a specific or random process?
Students responses:
- Inheritance of DNA is a random process
Teacher:
Alright, on your chromebooks, complete the exit slip before you leave class.
Exit slip questions:

1. Inheritance of DNA from parents is a _____________ process.
2. ____% of the DNA comes from the mother and _____% comes from the father.
3. Explain why fraternal twins can look completely different even though they both get
their DNA from the same parents.
What would be valid evidence of science learning?
A student who successfully learns science will successfully be able to engage in classroom
discussion and observe the phenomena that twins can look completely different, which is
caused by the random inheritance of DNA from parents. For example, they will then be able to
participate in an activity to observe the randomness of inheriting traits from parent to offspring
and produce a drawing that shows differences in traits/ appearance of two children. Lastly
students that are able to complete the exit slip will explain the concept that inheritance is a
random process and can cause twins to look completely different from each other.
Illustrate of the nature of interactions and learning in the classroom:

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Lesson Plan

Inheritance and Variation of Traits

In this unit, the instruction will begin with...

Showing students an images of two women:

In the middle of the sequence…

Teacher will explain the directions:

Students will respond:

The sequence will end with…

After students finish their activity, the teacher will ask?

Exit slip questions:

Illustrate of the nature of interactions and learning in the classroom:

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