Details
| Type of Product: | Book Chapter |
| Average Rating: | 
based on 1 review |
| Publication Title: | The Frugal Science Teacher, 6-9: Strategies and Activities |
| Publication Date: | 3/1/2010 |
| Pages: | 19 |
| Grade Level: | Elementary School, Middle School, High School |
| See Also: | View all available chapters for this book
View the full version of this book
View the downloadable PDF version of this book
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Description
Genetics is often a fascinating but difficult subject for middle level students. They can see the results of genes in every organism, but trying to visualize what happens at the level of genes is challenging for concrete thinkers. This activity presents an approach that helps students understand how genotypes can translate into phenotypes. In this lesson, based on the article “Gummi Bear Genetics” (Baker and Thomas 1998), students examine gummi bears and see whether they can determine the genotype for color in three generations of a bear family. This free selection includes the Table of Contents and the Index.
Ideas For Use
Students need to be introduced to the concept of dominant and recessive genes before this activity. Using gummi bears and gummi dolphins gives students an opportunity to solve problems using Mendel’s model and then to revise the model when the data do not fit. Developing a model gives students a sense of how science works and how data translate into scientific ideas.
Additional Info
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Science Discipline:
(mouse over for full classification)
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Genes
Analyzing data
Collecting data
Communicating
Interpreting data
Modeling
Observing
Predicting
Scientific habits of mind
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| Intended User Role: | Curriculum Supervisor, Elementary-Level Educator, High-School Educator, Middle-Level Educator, Teacher |
| Educational Issues: | Assessment of students, Classroom management, Curriculum, Educational research, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Teacher content knowledge, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies |
Technical
| Resource Format: | application/pdf |
| Size: | 730 KB |
| Requirements: | Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader |
National Standards Correlation
This resource has 20 correlations with the National Standards.
[HIDE CORRELATIONS]
- Life Science
- Reproduction and heredity
- Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another. (5-8)
- A human cell contains many thousands of different genes. (5-8)
- Each gene carries a single unit of information. (5-8)
- 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. (5-8)
- Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. (5-8)
- The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. (5-8)
- Science as Inquiry
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
- Communicate investigations and explanations.
- Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
- Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
- Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
- Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
- Understandings about scientific inquiry
- Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world. (K-4)
- Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
- Scientists review and ask questions about the results of other scientists' work. (K-4)
- History and Nature of Science
- Nature of science
- Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their existing explanations.
- Teaching Standards
- Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students.
- Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
- Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers
- Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
- Teachers provide students with the time, space, and resources needed to learn science.
- Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.
- Teachers of science develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry.
- Model and emphasize the skills, attitudes, and values of scientific inquiry.
Customer Reviews
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Gummy Bears |
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Reviewed by: Patricia (Pottstown, PA) on September 21, 2012 |
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Using gummy bears to teach genetics will keep middle school students interested and challenged to determine the laws of inheritance. This inquiry lab can be easily conducted in the classroom and would be an excellent activity to begin a unit on genetics, since students do not need to have prior knowledge regarding genetic terms. It would be simple to substitute another manipulative for those teachers who do not want to use candy in the classroom. |
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