Welcome to the Curriculum Plan Page!

Introduction
This curriculum web is designed to introduce middle school students to the concepts of genes and heredity. The topics listed below are designed to help teachers integrate the learning of basic genetics into their classrooms.

Curriculum Standard
S7L4. Students will recognize how biological traits are passed on to successive generations.
a. Explain the role of genes and chromosomes in the process of inheriting a specific trait.

Aim
This curriculum web aims to answer two basic questions: “Why do I look the way I do?” and “How did this come to be?”

Rationale
Through this curriculum students will investigate the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The idea that traits are passed from parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. Modern genetics began with Gregor Mendel and seeks to understand the process of inheritance.

General Educational Goals
Students will examine many areas of genetics to help them learn about and better understand how it relates to their lives.

Subject Matter Description
1. Relationship between traits and heredity
2. Experiments of Gregor Mendel
3. Dominant and recessive Traits
4. Genes and alleles
5. Genotype and phenotype
6. Punnett squares and probability

Learner Description
This curriculum web is designed for students in a 7th grade Life Science class. Students come from a range of backgrounds and learning levels. This may include gifted, general education, and special education students. Because learning styles vary among students, the activities will be differentiated whenever possible.

Prerequisites
Students need to be able to read at a 5th grade level or above. Students must have basic computer skills such as keyboarding, accessing the internet, and surfing the web. It is helpful for students to have a basic understanding of cells and in particular where DNA is held within the cell.

Learning Objectives
Many traits of an organism are inherited from its biological parents.
Genes and chromosomes determine the expressions of inherited traits.

Teaching Plan
This website is designed for a wide range of students from special education to gifted. See modification ideas for lower level students and extension activities for higher achieving .
Preparation
1. Reserve computer lab or laptops for students for a minimum of ten days. If computers go offline, have copies of the Genetic Tree activity ready. This can be done without access to the internet.
2. To minimize sound during videos, check out headphones or ask that students bring their own.
3. Save link to the Genes and Heredity website onto a classroom blog or write the link on the board for students to locate site with ease.
4. Create Class genetic tree as a bulletin board or on a large piece of butcher paper.
5. Make copies of necessary activities. Teachers may want to use class sets or allow students to answer on their own paper.
6. Review activities and provide modifications as needed.

Modification ideas
1. Partially filled in “Mendel’s Scientific Method” sheet.
2. Use heterogeneous groups for interactive games.
3. Allow students time to watch videos twice.
4. Provide guided practice for the first question in each section of the Spongebob Genetics pages.

Introduction
One to five Pre-Assessment: Ask the following questions to determine students’ prior knowledge. Ask them to hold up a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 depending on how much they know about each topic. One means “I have never heard of this.” Five means “I could explain this statement to the class”. Ask any students holding up a 4 or 5 to share their knowledge with the class.
1. Many traits are inherited from parents and passed from parents to offspring through genes.
2. Gregor Mendel discovered the principles of heredity while studying pea plants.
3. When a dominant trait is present the recessive trait seems to fade into the background.
4. If I flip a coin the chances of getting heads is 50% or ½.
5. An organism’s appearance is known as its phenotype.

Begin a class discussion to get students thinking about how traits are passed from generation to generation and the concepts of probability. The first question is for the day you begin “Mendel and his Peas” and the second question is for “Traits and Inheritance”.
1. Why don’t you look like a giraffe? (Neither of your parents are a giraffe. They did not pass on the traits of a giraffe to you.)
2. Display 3 pennies and a nickel, and ask students the following questions:
How many coins are there in all? (4)
What fraction of the coins are pennies? (3/4)
What fraction of the coins are nickels? (1/4)
What is the raio of pennies to nickels? (3 to 1)

Instructions/Activity pages (Click here for an overview of the activities.)

Mendel Page

Explain the relationship between traits and heredity.
Genetics is the science of genes and heredity. Inside the nucleus of all your body cells are 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each chromosome carries hundreds to thousands of genes on it. Each gene describes some of your traits. Your hair color, eye color, allergies, body shape,  your health, tastes, and on and on. These are all traits described by your genes. The genes describe these traits with a kind of code - a genetic code. This genetic code is written on your DNA which is located inside the nucleus of your cells. Heredity is how we pass these coded traits on to our children.

Watch Tour the Basics: What is Heredity? Be sure to click on the question along the top that says “What is Heredity?” http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/tour/

Complete 3-2-1 Exit Ticket on your own paper. You are welcome to re-watch the video to help you with this.

Describe the experiments of Gregor Mendel.
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk. He experimented with pea plants in the mid-1800's. He kept track of a number of traits over several generations, including: color of the seeds, plant height, whether the pod was smooth or wrinkled, and the shape of seeds. Over time, he noticed that certain plants produced new plants that were similar to the parents. For example, short "parent" plants produced more short plants, and tall "parent" plants have tall offspring. When he bred plants with different traits, he found patterns in the appearance of the new plants. He concluded that some genes are dominant and other ones are recessive. Dominant genes hide other genes that are present, and the trait corresponding to that gene will appear. Traits represented by recessive genes will only appear when the dominant gene is not present.

Use these websites to learn more about Gregor Mendel and his pea plants.
Gregor Mendel’s Genetics Discoveries with Peas http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=22&detID=54
Wikipedia: Gregor Mendel  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/Gregor_Mendel.php
Your textbook (Holt: Life Science) is also a good resource of information on Gregor Mendel starting on page 114.

Complete Mendel’s Scientific Method. You may work on this with a partner.

Explain the difference between dominant and recessive traits.
Genes contain information about a specific characteristic or trait and can either be dominant or recessive. Genes are found on chromosomes, but not all copies of a gene are identical. The different form of a gene is called an allele. Allele’s are represented using capital letters (dominant) and lower case letters (recessive). When the alleles are identical, the individual is homozygous for that trait. If the pair is made of two different alleles, the individual is heterozygous. A homozygous pair of can be either dominant (AA, BB) or recessive (aa, bb). Heterozygous pairs are made up of one dominant and one recessive allele (Aa, Bb). In heterozygous individuals only the dominant allele is expressed, while the other allele, the recessive, is hidden but still present. Capital letters represent dominant genes and lower case letters, recessive genes.
What does all this mean? Let’s look at an example: In bunny rabbits, brown fur color is dominant over white fur color. We would represent a brown allele with an uppercase “B”. We would represent a white allele with a lowercase “b”. If a baby bunny rabbit inherited two dominant alleles “BB”, his fur color would be brown. If the baby bunny rabbit inherited one dominant and one recessive allele “Bb”, his fur color would still be brown. This is because the dominant allele would cover up or hide the recessive allele. Finally, if the baby bunny rabbit inherited two recessive alleles “bb” he would have white fur. White fur would only be possible if no dominant allele was present.

Watch Tour the Basics: What is a trait? http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/tour/

Follow the link and watch the image slideshow called “OBSERVABLE TRAITS”. Be sure to identify which traits you express. You may need to ask a shoulder partner for assistance. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/traits/

A Tree of Genetic Traits: Your teacher will give you a genetic “leaf” to fill out. When you are finished place it on the correct branch of the class genetic tree.
Discussion Questions: Some traits are more common in a population than others. What is the most common combination of traits in our class? What is the least common combination of traits in our class?

Culminating Activity: Create one of the following describing the experiments of Gregor Mendel: How-to-Manual, Imaginary Diary, Documentary, Song, or Resume. You may produce your project using Power Point, Moviemaker, or Word. Be sure to review the rubric before you begin, so you know how you will be assessed.

Inheritance Page

Explain how genes and alleles are related to genotype and phenotype.
Genes affect the traits of offspring. An organism’s appearance is known as its phenotype. In bunny rabbits, possible phenotypes for the characteristic of fur color include brown, white, and black. Both inherited alleles together form an organism’s genotype. Our baby bunny rabbits with brown fur could have a genotype of either “BB” or “Bb”. Another of our baby bunny rabbits may have white fur and their genotype would be expressed “bb”. Phenotype refers to the appearance or expression of the trait, and Genotype refers to the genetic make-up of the gene.
Remember: If you are asked for a phenotype, you should give a characteristic (brown or white). If you are asked for a genotype, you should give an allele combination “bb” or “Bb” or “BB”.

Use these websites to learn more about phenotype, genotype and to preview Punnett squares.
Probability of Inheritance: http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_2.htm
Thinkquest: http://library.thinkquest.org/20830/Textbook/Genetics.htm

Complete #1-3  for homework: Sponge Bob Genetics 1
Complete #1-3 for homework: Sponge Bob Genetics 2
Students may use the class wiki for help on these assignments. Students who answer questions posed by other students will receive extra credit. http://kilkennylms.wikispaces.com/SpongeBob+Genetics

Use the information in a Punnett Square.
The Punnett square is a diagram used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment. It is named after Reginald C. Punnett, who devised the approach, and is used by biologists to determine the probability of an offspring having a particular genotype or phenotype. The Punnett square is a summary of every possible combination of two maternal (mother) alleles with two paternal (father) alleles for each gene being studied in the cross.

Play “Pass the Genes, please”. Play until you can create the whole “baby melon” without any mistakes: http://nature.ca/genome/04/041/0414_e.cfm

Complete the following online lab to learn more about Punnett squares: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_05/BL_05.html

Finish both Sponge Bob Genetics 1 and 2 for homework.
Students may use the class wiki for help on these assignments. Students who answer questions posed by other students will receive extra credit. http://kilkennylms.wikispaces.com/SpongeBob+Genetics

Explain how probability can be used to predict possible genotypes in offspring.
The mathematical chance that something will happen is known as probability. Probability is usually written as a percentage or a ratio. When you toss a coin, there is a 50% chance of getting heads. In a parent with two different alleles, such as Pp, there is a 50% chance of offspring getting a "P" and a 50% chance of getting a "p".

In this example, the Dad rabbit is homozygous for grey fur and the mother is homozygous for brown fur. Each parent contributes on of their alleles to their offspring. Because grey is dominant, their offspring will all be heterozygous for grey fur. If we were asked for the genotypic probability or ratio, we would express it as 100% Bb or 4:4 Bb. If we were asked for the phenotypic probability or ratio, we would express it as 100% grey or 4:4 grey. On your own paper, create a cross between two bunnies using the same principles stated above but make the father’s genotype "Bb" and the mother’s genotype "Bb". Figure out the probability of their genotypes and their phenotypes. Check your answers.

Play Hoop Shoot and predict possible outcomes of a genetic cross. You may need a scratch sheet. http://www.sciencereviewgames.com/srg/games/hs.php?id=136

Take the Google Doc Quiz
The quiz can be found at the following link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dERwaDliOUllOTg3bmZOMThFY3dmLWc6MQ

Culminating Activity: Create one of the following to explain how to complete and analyze a Punnett square: Wiki page, PowerPoint, Movie, Bulletin Board.. Be sure to review the rubric before you begin, so you know how you will be assessed.

Grouping Strategy Suggestions
Individual Options
321 exit ticket, Spongebob Genetics 1, Spongebob Genetics 2, Google Doc quiz, and Summative assessment.
Paired Options          
By product or topic interest:  Culminating activities (Teachers may allow students to chose one of the culminating activities instead of completing both.)
Heterogeneous: Both interactive games (Pass the Genes, Please! and Hoop Shoot), Mendel’s Scientific Method

Scheduling Time
Allow for at least four 50 minute periods for each of the two main topic pages: Mendel and his Peas and Traits and Inheritance. Different learners will progress at various speeds. Allow for at least one additional day with access to computers. Spongebob activities may be done for homework. If not, allow one day of class time (without computers) for both pages. If completing both culminating activities give students 3 days with the computers for each project. It may also be beneficial to have students pick one of the culminating activities to complete.

Extensions
The following links provide activities to reinforce concepts in genetics:
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/science/biology/genetics/
Website includes several lesson plans to reinforce and extend the learning of genetics.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/waldron/
Website offers several biology activities including cell division and genetics.
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/websciencejk.html
This webquest should be used for extension only. Students investigate genetically modified organisms, cloning, medicine and genetics or DNA identification.

Assessment Plan
In each of the six lessons, there is an activity or assessment to complete. To assess student knowledge of Mendel and his Peas, students will complete a 3-2-1 exit ticket, create a model of Mendel’s Scientific Method, and express their personal traits in A Tree of Genetic Traits. To assess student knowledge of Traits and Inheritance, students will complete two Sponge Bob Genetic practice activities (one and two) and a Google Doc Quiz (coming soon). Two performance assessments are included one for Mendel and his Peas and one for Traits and Inheritance. In Mendel and his Peas students have a choice of products which will describe the experiments of Gregor Mendel. In Traits and Inheritance, students again have a choice of products which will analyze the use of a Punnett square. Both of the culminating activities are meant as group projects. Students may be given a choice of which to complete or both may be assigned depending on available time. A final, individual assessment will be given in the form of a multiple choice test.

Evaluation Plan
Please use the feedback survey to offer advice, suggestions, or constructive criticism after using this curriculum web. I will use this information to improve the site. I will also observe students as they use the site to see if there is confusion or technical problems. This will be done in February of 2011. Updates will be made after this time. If you are in my class, you may request a printed copy of this form.

Resources and Links
For a document containing all the resources and links contained in this site click here.

Contact Information
For more information regarding this website, please email me at kathryn.kilkenny@cobbk12.org.