LS3
Middle School Science · Next Generation Science Standards · 2013
The Standard
Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
Standard Unwrapping
AI-generated as a starting point.Vocabulary
modelstructural changesgenesmutationschromosomesproteinsstructurefunctionorganismasexual reproductiongenetic informationsexual reproductiongenetic variationoffspring
Skills
- develop a model (structural changes to genes on chromosomes) #dok2
- use a model (explain effects of mutations on proteins and organisms) #dok3
- describe (effects of mutations as harmful, beneficial, or neutral) #dok2
- compare (characteristics of asexual and sexual reproduction) #dok2
- explain (how asexual reproduction yields identical genetic information and sexual reproduction creates genetic variation) #dok3
Learning Targets
- I can define key vocabulary such as gene, mutation, and chromosome. #dok1
- I can identify types of reproduction and match examples to asexual or sexual reproduction. #dok1
- I can describe why structural changes to genes may impact proteins and the organism. #dok2
- I can develop a model to show how mutations may lead to harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects. #dok2
- I can use a model to explain how mutations result in changes in protein structure or function. #dok3
- I can compare the genetic outcomes of asexual versus sexual reproduction. #dok2
- I can explain, using models, how offspring inherit genetic information in asexual and sexual reproduction. #dok3
- I can evaluate scenarios to predict the effects of specific mutations on organism traits. #dok4
Big Ideas
- Genetic information is stored in genes on chromosomes and can be changed by mutations, which may affect the organism in different ways.
- Asexual reproduction creates offspring with identical genetic information, while sexual reproduction results in genetic variation among offspring.
Essential Questions
- How can changes to genes (mutations) impact the structure and function of organisms?
- What are the similarities and differences between asexual and sexual reproduction?
- How does the process of sexual reproduction lead to genetic variation?
- Why might some mutations have no observable effect, while others have significant effects?
- How do models help us understand and predict patterns of inheritance and effects of genetic mutations?
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