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  • Middle School

    Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations

  1. Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in offspring with identical genetic information and sexual reproduction results in offspring with genetic variation. MS-LS3-2

    Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

A Peformance Expectation (PE) is what a student should be able to do to show mastery of a concept. Some PEs include a Clarification Statement and/or an Assessment Boundary. These can be found by clicking the PE for "More Info." By hovering over a PE, its corresponding pieces from the Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts will be highlighted.

Science and Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

By clicking on a specific Science and Engineering Practice, Disciplinary Core Idea, or Crosscutting Concept, you can find out more information on it. By hovering over one you can find its corresponding elements in the PEs.

Planning Curriculum

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy

  • RST.6-8.1 - Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. (MS-LS3-2)
  • RST.6-8.4 - Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics. (MS-LS3-2)
  • RST.6-8.7 - Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). (MS-LS3-2)
  • SL.8.5 - Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest. (MS-LS3-2)

Mathematics

  • 6.SP.B.5 - Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context. (MS-LS3-2)
  • MP.4 - Model with mathematics. (MS-LS3-2)

Model Course Mapping

First Time Visitors

Resources & Lesson Plans

  • More resources added each week!
    A team of teacher curators is working to find, review, and vet online resources that support the standards. Check back often, as NSTA continues to add more targeted resources.
  • Designing the Super Explore

    “Designing the Super Explore” is one of several life science lessons in the NSTA Press book Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons. This NSTA book “introduces a conceptual framework that keeps science front and center as engineering, tec ...

  • Albinism (Phenomenon)

    This phenomenon (images at http://www.negaresa.org/science/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/albino-animals.png) comes from the Science GSE Phenomena Bank of the Georgia Science Teachers Association. The images provided show a variety of species that are bo ...

  • Heredity and Genetics (Investigative Phenomena)

      This news story describes a phenomenon that illustrates how traits are randomly passed from generation to generation. A photo in the story shows two young women whose physical traits are so different from one another that most people would ...

  • Pasta Genetics

    In this hands-on activity, students are investigating the phenomenon of human inheritance. They are seeking to explain why each person, except for identical twins, is unique in their appearance. The activity uses four differently shaped pasta to repr ...

  • Eye Color Probe #22 From Uncovering Student Ideas in Life Science, Volume 1: 25 New Formative Assessment Probes

    This is one of 25 assessment probes from the book,” Uncovering Student Ideas in Life Science, Volume 1: 25 New Formative Assessment Probes”, by Page Keeley and co-authors. All assessment probes in this collection are aligned to a particul ...

  • Baby Mice

    This is one of 25 assessment probes from the book,” Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 2: 25 More Formative Assessment Probes”, by Page Keeley and co-authors. All assessment probes in this collection are aligned to a particular s ...

  • Color Vision Genetics Evolution Simulation

    In this activity, students will simulate how genes on chromosomes are passed from generation to generation while exploring color vision and its genetic history in humans and other primates. Students will explore the sex-linked trait of color vision a ...

  • Dragon Genetics – Understanding Inheritance

    This activity allows students to simulate the processes of meiosis and fertilization as they investigate the inheritance of multiple genes. The simulation also allows the student to see the  cause and effect relationship of gene transmission fro ...

  • Genetics of Sesame Street Characters

    The Sesame Street Characters are used to: 1. Create a gene map for a particular Sesame Street character. 2. Move the resulting chromosomes through the steps of meiosis to produce the possible gametes of that individual character. 3. Choose a spouse a ...

  • Junior's Family Tree

    The learner will trace the family history of a horse named Junior as they explore why he has the characteristic traits that he does. The lesson includes an interview with a horse breeder and demonstrates how traits are passed from generation to gener ...

  • Investigating Reproductive Strategies

    Students work in pairs to compare five aspects of an organism that reproduces sexually, asexually, or both sexually and asexually. The activity comes with a chart for the students to fill out and with information sheets on twelve organisms. As a clas ...

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  •  Legends of Learning - Reproduction and Gene Transfer

    In this series of games, your students will learn about the processes of sexual and asexual reproduction, and their pros and cons. The Reproduction and Gene Transfer learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student e...

  •  Legends of Learning - Variation of Inherited Traits

    In this series of games, your students will learn about heredity, and how genetic traits show up in offspring. The Variation of Inherited Traits learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academi...

  •  Legends of Learning - Sexual Reproduction and Genetic V ...

    In this series of games, your students will learn how hereditary traits are passed down in the form of genes. The Sexual Reproduction and Genetic Variation learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement ...

  •  Monohybrid Cross Practice.docx

    Students use data from a heredity simulation (https://www.biologysimulations.com/heredity-i) to determine the dominant and recessive alleles for two genes.

  •  Selective Breeding to Solve a Hunger Crisis

    This storyline introduces selective breeding, asexual reproduction, and the impact of the environment on phenotype. Espeth is experiencing a food shortage! Botanist Zed thinks that he has the answer: rapid-growing tuffets that can be planted and ha...

  •  Dominance, Recessiveness, and Family Resemblance

    This storyline introduces heredity, alleles, genes, dominant traits, and recessive traits. Sasha’s panganog, Dashwood, has just had twin noglets. But who is the father? Players help Sasha find clues about the panganog who fathered the twins using he...

Planning Curriculum gives connections to other areas of study for easier curriculum creation.