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Lindsay Ives
Educ 140
Dr. Korb
6 March 2009
Critical Task
For this critical task, I will be addressing life sciences content standard C. Content
standard C states that students, grades 5 thru 8, should develop understanding of:
 Structure and function in living systems
 Reproduction and heredity
 Regulation and behavior
 Populations and ecosystems
 Diversity and adaptations of organisms
I will be specifically looking at reproduction and heredity. This content is aimed at
a 5th grade classroom.
According to the NSES, some of the fundamental concepts and principles of reproduction
and heredity that underlie content standard C are that:
1. Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems; because no individual
organism lives forever, reproduction is essential to the continuation of every
species. Some organisms reproduce asexually. Other organisms reproduce
sexually.
2. In many species, including humans, females produce eggs and males produce
sperm. Plants also reproduce sexually—the egg and sperm are produced in the
flowers of flowering plants. An egg and sperm unite to begin development of a
new individual. That new individual receives genetic information from its mother
(via the egg) and its father (via the sperm). Sexually produced offspring never are
identical to either of their parents.
3. Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is
the passage of these instructions from one generation to another.
4. Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each
cell. Each gene carries a single unit of information. An inherited trait of an
individual can be determined by one or by many genes, and a single gene can
influence more than one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different
genes.
5. The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of
traits. Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the
environment.
This critical task will be focused on the fundamental concept described in numbers
2, 4 and 5.
The scientific method is a skill that needs to be taught and enforced throughout
the entire school career. The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by
which scientists come to conclusions about the world around them. The Scientific
Method helps to organize thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in
the answers they find. Scientists use observations, hypotheses, and deductions to make
these conclusions. The scientific method is one of the most important skills that students
will learn. The scientific method attempts to minimize the influence of bias or prejudice
in the experimenter. Even the best-intentioned scientists can't escape bias. It results from
personal beliefs, as well as cultural beliefs, which means any human filters information
based on his or her own experience. Unfortunately, this filtering process can cause a
scientist to prefer one outcome to another. For someone trying to solve a problem around
the house, succumbing to these kinds of biases is not such a big deal. But in the scientific
community, where results have to be reviewed and duplicated, bias must be avoided at all
costs. That's the job of the scientific method. It provides an objective, standardized
approach to conducting experiments and, in doing so, improves their results.
Throughout these lessons, students will be ask to incorporate the scientific method
with the activities we will be doing.
Identifying misconceptions becomes more prevalent when teaching science the
older children get. Students should have had a multitude of positive experiences in
science education before they get to fifth grade. This then directs students onto science
and
wanting to know how and why things work. Yet, if students do not receive the answers
to the hows and why’s, they seemingly begin to develop their own ideas about the way
things occur. As an educator, one may find it to be a very difficult barrier to overcome
many students’ misconceptions about scientific phenomena and perhaps more
importantly how to change their points of view. Uncovering misconceptions is a process.
Acknowledging that a misconception exists is essential. Then, teachers need to help
students address why these misconceptions exist. Finally, teachers and students need to
work together to unpack the material that is correct. This process is not easy, especially
since most students misconceptions have been around for years, taught by family, friends
and prior teachers.
Teaching about reproduction and heredity in fifth thru eight grade is important
since inaccuracies and misconceptions are easily developed. Whether you are teaching
elementary students about characteristics and life cycles, or middle school students about
reproduction and heredity, we can us a concept map to address misconceptions that
the students have. This method is extremely helpful in detecting misconceptions. I
would have students work in groups to create a web of all that they know about the
content whether that is right or wrong. Through my research, I have concluded that the
student might have misconceptions about the role of sperm and eggs and about the sexual
reproduction of flowering plants. Concerning heredity, younger middle-school students
tend to focus on observable traits, and older students have some understanding that
genetic material carries information. We would then go through their ideas and discuss
in what is right and wrong with their ideas. Then at the end of our lesson, I would return
to this concept map and have students do it over, in order to assess that they have learned
some new concepts and addressed their old misconceptions.
Lesson Plan 1: Easter Egg Genetics
Grade: 5th grade
Types of Learners: Auditory/visual/kinesthetic
Goals:
 Students will understand the concept of dominance and recessiveness.
 Students will be able to use a Punnett Square to determine what offspring would
be possible.
Outcomes:
 Students will take the quiz after they watch the brain pop video.
 Students will produce one page of diagrams, vocabulary, predictions, and their
conclusion.
Introduction:
Technology can serve as a great resource for learning. I will have the students
watch a short clip on BrainPop.com about Heredity. This video has Moby and Tim
answering the question “My parents are both short and I’m five feet, eight inches tall and
I’m only 13! What’s going on?!?” It then goes through definitions of heredity, genes,
recessive and dominant. Tim goes through the concept of the pea plants as study by
Gregor Mendel. Then he explains a Punnett Square and how it relates to pea plants. Tim
and Moby are funny and keep kids attention. This would be a great thing for my auditory
learners. Then I would have the students take the printed quiz individually but only to
check for understanding.
Preparation:
“Get some packages of plastic Easter Eggs and some matching-colored gumballs,
jelly beans, skittles, etc to fill them. Get enough so that every student gets one or,
preferably, two eggs each. Make a genotype and phenotype chart (for them) and key (for
you) to accompany them. For example: (the letters represent the color of HALF of the
Easter egg)”
Chart:
PP=purple
pp=pink
Pp=orange
BB=blue
bb=yellow
Bb=green
(An egg may be all purple, thus it is PP crossed with PP, or, it may be orange and pink,
representing Pp x pp)
Key:
purple x purple (PP x PP)= all PP or purple possibilities
purple x pink (PP x pp)= all Pp or orange possibilities
pink x pink (pp x pp)= all pp or pink possibilities
orange x orange (Pp x Pp)= 1 purple (PP), 2 orange (Pp) and 1 pink (pp)
orange x purple (Pp x PP)= 2 purple (PP) and 2 orange (Pp)
orange x pink (Pp x pp)= 2 orange (Pp) and 2 pink (pp)
etc (for any other colors)
“Fill the eggs according to your key. For example, a half pink and half purple egg would
represent the genotypes PP x pp, each half of the egg representing the genetic input of
one parent. Then, students would do a Punnett Square to determine what offspring would
be possible from such a cross. The Punnett Square calculation reveals that all of the
offspring would be genotypically Pp, or phenotypically orange. The candies inside would
be appropriate colors to match the results of their Punnett Square so that they could check
themselves to see if their calculations were correct. The students then get to eat the
candy.”
Procedure:
After the introduction to the concepts of dominance, recessiveness, related terms, Punnett
Squares, etc. Let each student pick two eggs that you have prepared. On a chart, put the
traits that are represented by each color. Have students examine their eggs and have them
determine the genotypes of their "parent" eggs, and fill out the Punnett Square worksheet
to determine what offspring would be possible from such a cross. In order to check
themselves they can look at the candy on the inside and if they are correct they get to eat
the candy.
Data:
Easter Egg Color Key:
PP=purple
pp=pink
Pp=orange
BB=blue
bb=yellow
Bb=green
Egg #1:
a. Phenotype (color): ________________ X ____________________
b. Genotype: ________X __________
c. Punnett square:
Egg #2:
a. Phenotype (color): ________________ X ____________________
b. Genotype: ________X __________
c. Punnett square:
Lesson Plan 2: Nature vs. Nurture
Grade: 5th Grade
Learners: Visual/Auditory/Kinesthetic
Goals:
 Students will learn that environment can influence some personality traits while others
are genetic.
 Students will examine how heredity, environment and personality affect self-concept
 Students will discover that the issues of nature versus nurture are still debated in the
scientific community.
Outcomes:
 Students will communicate their views about how they are a result of heredity and
environment.
Introduction:
 Begin the lesson with a discussion where students talk about what they think
determines their likes, dislikes and personality traits. This is one part where the
students can identify some of their misconceptions. Are these traits genetic or
environmentally composed?
 Then we will create a venn diagram of personality traits. Put those affected by
heredity on the left and those affected by environment on the right. Those affected
by both will go in the area that overlaps.
Procedure:
 We will start by doing an activity where we will have corners for the inherited traits.
 We can do all the eye colors in different corners, hair color, height, ect. We can do a
brief review of what the different vocabulary words mean. “Heredity is traits you get
through genes from your biological parents. These traits are called inherited traits.
Dominant and recessive genes determine what is inherited from our parents. Some
traits win over other traits. Gregor Mendel was the man who did experiments on
peas and discovered the likelihood of the dominant and recessive genes trait showing
up in the pea plant. The same research holds true for human reproduction.”
 You are born with many traits that came directly from your parents but what about the
other traits such as personality. The environment affects these traits. Scientist are
still having a hard time figuring out the concept of nature versus nurture and which
qualities are a result of heredity and environment. The students will determine the
difference between heredity and environment. They will increase their awareness of
being a unique individual with “special” importance to our society.
 Then have the students complete the hand out: Who am I? This will be used to
identify common inherited characteristics in themselves. Make sure the students are
looking at the idea of inherited verse environmental.
WHO AM I?
1. The size/shape of my: hands__________ nose___________
body______
ears_________
toes___________
2. What other inherited traits do you observe in yourself or others?
3. How can these traits be altered or changed by the environment? (give 3
examples)
4. List your personality traits (such as outgoing, quiet, peacemaker, energetic,
optimist, pessimist, etc.) in the columns below. Write traits you consider
negative on the left and ones you consider positive on the right.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
________________________
_______________________
________________________
_______________________
________________________
_______________________
________________________
_______________________
________________________
_______________________
5. Do you think your personality traits are determined by your heredity or your
environment or both? Explain your answer.
6. How can you change those traits that you listed on the negative side in
number 4?
7. Which do you think has determined more of who you are as a whole person—
heredity or environment? Explain your answer.
Lesson Plan 3: Speaker Come-In
Grade: 5th grade
Learners: Auditory/Visual/kinesthetic
Goals:
 The students would get an outside perspective on reproduction and heredity.
 The students would have an understanding of the reproductive system.
Outcomes:
 Students will ask questions and be actively engaged with the speaker.
Introduction:
 The day before this lesson, I would have students watch the video on brainpop
about the reproductive system.
http://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/reproductivesystem/
 Then we would come up with questions to ask the doctor who was coming in. We
would do a benchmark lesson on asking good, quality questions.
Procedure:
The gynecologist would give a speech about the reproductive system: both male and
female. This would be an introduction into a health unit in sex education. The gyno
would explain how the systems work and give the children a chance to ask questions. I
would also like the gyno to bring in some visuals and manipulative in order for the
students to get a strong understanding of these organs and systems.
In order to address students prior knowledge and misconceptions, we will have a
discussion before the lesson starts in order to talk about where we think our traits come
from. Students need to see that some traits can be inherited or aquired through your
nature. We can talk about how everyone is different for different reasons. Some we
cannot be changed and we have learned through your environment. All of these activites
are creating interest and sorting out misconceptions that have formed. We can talk about
how our nature can and even our inherited genes can create misconceptions.
Websites Used:
www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wUD/nDt4c/4=&tabid=437 April 7, 2009
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0256AnneBuchanan/description.php April 7, 2009
http://www.brainpop.com/ April 7, 2009
I used the internet as a source to find fun and interesting lesson plans. I think that these
lessons can give the students the chance to learn in many different ways. I choose brain
pop because they are funny videos that are at the right level for these students. The other
lessons were chosen because they are informative but in a fun way for the students.