Science Lesson Plan for Project-Based Instruction

Date: Fall 2015

Course name:
Genetics/Anatomy

Grade Level: Middle/High

School

Topic: Genetics

Instructor: Vandie Joseph

Briana Brown

*Instructional Strategy/strategies:
Inquiry, Argumentation,

NGSS Performance Expectations :

NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea:

Florida Standards:
SS.912.S.2.3: Recognize the influences
of genetic inheritance and culture on
human behavior.
SC.912.L.16.9
Explain how and why the genetic code
is universal and is common to almost
all organisms.

According to the NGSS, In the middle-school years, students should progress

from studying life science from the point of view of individual organisms, to
recognizing patterns in ecosystems and developing understandings about the
cellular dimensions of living systems. Some aspects of middle-school/high
school student understanding should be noted. This period of development in
youth lends itself to human biology. Now is the time to begin the study of
genetic traits (i.e. what offspring get from parents). The topic of the lesson is:
Genotype and Phenotype. This topic can be addressed as a natural part of the
study of human reproduction (previous anatomy lesson). Concerning heredity,
younger middle-school/high school students tend to focus on observable traits,
and older students have some understanding that genetic material carries
information.
Objectives:
SWBAT:
-Explain how a combination of alleles for a gene can code for a specific trait
-Distinguish between dominant and recessive alleles.
- Explain how genes and alleles are related to genotypes and phenotypes
-Explore the connection between genes and social inequalities

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Science and Engineering practice: (Identify the practice and explain how you will explicitly address the practice in your teaching)

*Examples of Instructional Strategies: Inquiry/Investigations (5 Essential Features of Inquiry), Learning Cycle,

Jigsaw, Student-Driven Reading Discussions, Argumentation, Model-Eliciting Activities, Concept Mapping, PEOE
Demonstrations, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Writing Heuristics, Interactive Lectures (Include what makes your lesson
interactive: Polling? Place Mat? Think-Pair-Share? Summary Writing? Note: IRE discussions and note-taking are not
considered to be interactive.)
Materials:

(please designate group quantities or individual)

- PowerPoint presentation (see engagement section)

- A set of cards for groups of 4 students (so, 6 sets). Each card should have a fur color on one side (the
phenotype) and, on the other side, a corresponding genotype. Each SET of cards should have about 12-15
cards in them. Fur should be colored grey and brown, with more grey cards than brown, but not adhering to a
certain ratio. 4 of the cards are the baby furs these are smaller and they should have no genotype on the
back.
- A sheet with 4 empty Punnett Squares on the front and definitions on the back for each student (see
exploration section).
- A large Punnett Square on the Interactive Whiteboard (and so IW mat and pen).
- 2 probability worksheets that aid activity.

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Resources used to write lesson plan (Please include enough information so that anyone could locate your resources;
links should include retrieval dates):

wiki.coe.jmu.edu/MSME/admin/download.html?attachid=3495419
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~trindal/index_files/bugbabies.pdf
How will this lesson address the needs of ELL, ESOL, and ESE students? (Draw upon your previous coursework, including
TSL and RED)
ELL, ESOL, and ESE students are addressed by introducing them to foundation vocabulary for the content area and working in groups
in order to transition them into the language.

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Lesson Outline: (complete this section in a manner that aligns with the instructional method)

Warmup (5-10 minutes):

As students come in the classroom, ask students to think about how anatomy and genetics are related. Ask
students to provide real-life applications of genetics and anatomy within their every-day lives.
Engagement: (10 minutes)
Probing questions:
Ask students to notice the differences in tongue curling. Have them count the number of students with each
trait and record the results in their science journals using a data table. The tables have two columns (curl and
no curl). Have students calculate the ratios of students who can curl/total students in the class and students
who cannot curl/total students in the class. Have the class discuss the results. (Note: A class of students is not
a scientific sample and may not yield statistically significant results.)
From this activity, we will ask students to think about how these differences related to social inequalities and
personal capabilities to work in the real world.
Explore: (45 minutes 1.5 hours/2 Day Lesson)
Probing questions:
Students should be given one of the packs of cards (see materials) to use as a group of 4.
Task 1: Exploring Phenotypes
- Students are told that each card represents the coat of a father, a mother or a baby.
- Students are asked, ONLY using the picture side of the card, to make as many combinations of a father,
mother and baby as they think possible and lay them on their tables. (Model one for students: for example, I
could make a guess that if the father had a grey coat, the mother had a grey coat, then the baby would also
have a blue grey coat.) Ask students to make four guesses in this way (see worksheet What do you think?.
- After a few minutes ask each group to tell the class a combination they suggested and WHY they suggested
it.
- Say to students if I told you that what you have been looking at are phenotypes, what would you say a
phenotype is? (Definition: the physical appearance of an organism).

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

- Ask students if they think that this is an accurate way to predict the color coat of the baby. What might be a
better way?
Task 2: Exploring Genotypes
- Have students flip their cards and discuss in their groups for a minute or two what the letters on the back
might mean. Tell students that some helpful words to use are allele, dominant and recessive. (Students should
have been introduced, in previous classes, to alleles and to the idea that they can be represented by letters
AND to the idea of recessive and dominant alleles but not to a combination of them as TRAITS.)
- Ask for student suggestions stressing that EACH trait is made up of 2 alleles and that one is often dominant
and the other recessive. Ask students how they think that the code on the back is related to the picture on the
front. DONT move on until they understand how a genotype relates to a phenotype (without using those
terms).
- Tell students that we can use that code (the two alleles for each trait) to predict more accurately the physical
traits of babies from their families.
- Hand out a sheet with four empty Punnett Squares on it (see worksheet labelled . Ask students to choose a
mother and father from one of their combinations and add the genotypes to the Punnett Square. (Show them
how to do this on the Interactive Whiteboard). Tell students that, when a baby is formed, they inherit
one allele from one parent and one from another. Tell them that we cannot say for sure which allele from the
father will be chosen, or which from the mother, but that we can make predictions). REMIND students that
these are all the POSSIBILITIES of the physical features of the baby.
- Ask students to perform this procedure (producing their own Punnet Squares) for each of the combinations
they had made
- Write if the fur is grey or brown in the table underneath each possible genotype.
- Ask students if, after finding all the possibilities for the babys eyes, if the one they had predicted was there
or not.

Explanation: ( minutes)

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Probing questions:
This section should allow students to apply their knowledge as they consider, still, the components of Punnett
Squares.
- Hand 2 coins to each pair. On each of these coins, heads is marked with a G and tails is marked with a
g.
- Tell students that each coin represents a Koala (i.e. each of these koalas has a Gg genotype).
- Tell students that this is a model for the characteristics of koala offspring. Students are to toss the coin 25
times and record the combination each time (i.e. what the baby koala inherited from the mother, and what
from the father).
- Students should record this in the table (on the worksheet in practice)...
- And they should follow the directions to find the PROBABILITY of each genotype and make some comment as
to the most LIKELY genotype to occur.
Wrap-up or elaboration/application: (20-25 minutes)
- Students are then given the opportunity to find out whether this practical result reflects the theory learnt
through this lesson on Punnett Squares... This is done through producing a Punnett square of the experiment,
finding the probability and making a comparison between this and the one in practice (conclusion).
- Students will be given time to discuss their results in class.
- A final discussion (comparison) of codominance and a lead in to mutations is done through PowerPoint.
We will further discuss how phenotypes, genotypes, and mutations affect humans and how they operate. I will
allow the students to inquire about how differences lead to social inequalities but ultimately we are the same. I
will challenge students to debate whether the inequality arguments are valid or not.

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Mother

Assignment/Homework:

Assessment: (formative or summative)

Add findings from the lesson to the final

PBI project.

Hand students a piece of paper with the following questions to be turned in as an exit
slip:

-How do your findings help/hurt your

argument?
-How are genetics and anatomy related to
social inequalities?
-What was one thing you discovered
during this lesson that you did not know
before?

Q.1. Fill in the following Punnett Square

Father

B
B
B
B
If B = the allele for brown hair and if b = the allele for blonde hair
Q.2. What color hair (PHENOTYPE) does each parent have?
Q.3. What is the probability that a child will have blonde hair?

Supplemental Documents: (includes handouts, direction sheets, data sheets, quizzes, exit tickets, Power
Points, etc...)

Note: If you create handouts for use in any stage of the lesson or that you assign for homework, please include the
documents at the end of this lesson plan document. Also, if you use any part of a handout using a resource written
by someone else, you must give credit to the source somewhere on the handout (e.g., in the footer). If you have
questions about how to do this, please ask!!

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore

Adapted from CCSS Mathematical Practices lesson-planning tool: go.solution-tree.com/commoncore