MS-LS3-2 lessons
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.
The Next Generation Science Standards code MS-LS3-2 asks students to: “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.” These Fieldbook lessons teach it hands-on, with everyday materials, a printable teacher guide and a student sheet.
Genes and Traits: Heredity and Punnett Squares Grades 7–8
- Why do you look like your family, but not exactly? 45–60 min
Teams build baby dragons by flipping printed allele coin cards from two parents, then bud copies of one parent and compare the two litters. They explain genes, alleles and chromosomes, and why sexual reproduction makes variety while asexual reproduction makes copies.
- How can two purple-flowered pea plants have a white-flowered one? 45–60 min
Students play pea plants, passing allele slips from behind their backs to make offspring, then draw Punnett squares for three crosses and solve four case files. They explain dominant and recessive alleles, genotype and phenotype, and why most human traits do not follow these simple rules.
- What did Mendel count? 45–60 min
Teams rotate around seven data stations with Gregor Mendel's real pea counts from 1866, work out each ratio, and compare it with the 3 to 1 a Punnett square predicts. A card of ten single plants shows how much small samples wobble, so students explain heredity as probability, not certainty.
NGSS is used as written in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, so the code MS-LS3-2 matches there. Other states word and number their own versions: see curriculum alignment for your state's codes.
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