Unit 5: Inheriting Traits

Summary

In this unit, students investigate how DNA codes for proteins and how DNA gets passed down from parent to offspring in cell division. Students compare asexual and sexual reproduction, and then model how a structural change to the DNA sequence for a gene can lead to mutations that can be neutral, beneficial, or harmful.

CASE STUDY 1: DNA and Proteins

Students explore the relationship between DNA and proteins, using a model to investigate how DNA’s structure allows it to make copies of its instructions for building specific proteins. These proteins in turn determine an organism’s traits.

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Lesson 1

I can identify vocabulary and background concepts related to DNA and protein coding in order to prepare for the first lab of Unit 5!

Lesson 2

I can boldly share my ideas and actively listen to the ideas of others in a Socratic seminar on DNA and protein coding.

Lesson 3

I can explain the process that allows the DNA in a cell to build specific proteins responsible for the traits of an organism by completing the first lab of unit 5!

CASE STUDY 2: Reproductions

In the second lesson, students focus on how genetic information is passed down from parents to offspring when cells divide. They model the two forms of cell division (mitosis and meiosis), and use their models to support an argument for how asexual reproduction is different from sexual reproduction.

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Lesson 4

I can boldly share my ideas and actively listen to the ideas of others in a Socratic seminar on the growth and development of organisms through mitosis.

Lesson 5

I can explain how mitosis results in two identical cells by completing an investigation about cell division.

Lesson 6

I can boldly share my ideas and actively listen to the ideas of others in a Socratic seminar on the growth and development of organisms through meiosis.

Lesson 7

I can explain how meiosis aids in the growth and development of organisms by creating a model of cell division.

CASE STUDY 3: DNA and Mutations

Once students understand how DNA holds the instructions for making proteins and how DNA gets passed down from parents to offspring, students apply what they know to analyze how sometimes changes happen to the sequence of nucleotides, which results in genetic mutations. These mutations can be neutral, harmful, or beneficial.

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