Teacher Resources

In this interactive lesson, students will learn how the chromosomes of plants contribute to the characteristics of their offspring. Students will explain how humans influence traits of organisms with facts from media and informational text, using this information to defend their opinion of why this method is used by farmers.

This interactive lesson is aligned to:

Module Information

  • Grade Band: 6 - 8
  • Focus Standard: Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
  • Topic: Life Science
  • Completion Time: 30 - 40 minutes
  • Vocabulary: Visit the Glossary page for definitions of key vocabulary in this module.

Related Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

  • MS-LS1-4 Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
    Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
  • MS-LS3-1 Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
    Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
  • MS-LS3-2 Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
    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.
  • MS-LS4-5 Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
    Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

Maryland College and Career Ready (MCCR) Standards for Disciplinary Literacy

Writing Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects:
Text Types and Purposes
  • MCCR Anchor Standard 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
    • WHST.6-8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

Maryland Environmental Literacy Standard

(3) Environmental Impact of Human Activity.
  • Environmentally literate students construct and apply understanding of the environmental impact of human activities on Earth’s systems and resources.
(5) Individual and Collective Responses to Environmental Change.
  • Environmentally literate students construct and apply understanding of individual, collective, and societal responses to human-induced environmental change.

 

Teacher Tips

Students can respond to the activity prompts using words and/or pictures with captions.

Additional Resources

References

Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation
Ag in the Classroom Lesson | Grades 9-12
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
Piedmont Master Gardners/Virginia Cooperative Extension
Next Generation Science Standards

Using This Site

This lesson is built for use on classroom computers and tablets. If you have access to a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or an interactive whiteboard in your classroom, you may complete the lesson in your classroom. Otherwise, you will need to schedule time to use your school's computer lab. For technical specifications, see below.

Some activities on this site may include videos and narration, so you may want to have headphones available for students working at individual stations. For best results in viewing the videos and interactives, you should have a high-speed, stable Internet connection.

This lesson may contain PDFs for students to complete. They can print the PDFs and fill them out by hand, or download the files and fill them out on the computer. Most or all portions can be filled out online. Please check with your Instructional Technology Specialist for instructions on downloading the PDF. (Note that to complete the PDFs on the computer, you will need a viewer, such as Adobe Reader, that supports forms.)

Technology

This site is an Internet-based activity, and it was built to run on the following computer operating systems and browsers:

  • Windows 7 or Newer: IE 8, 9, 10, 11; Current version of Chrome; Current version of Firefox
  • Mac OS 10.7 or Newer: Current version of Safari
  • iPad2/iOS6 or Newer: Current version of Safari
  • Android 4.0 or Newer: Current version of Android browser
  • Chromebook: Current version of Chrome

Users running Internet Explorer 8 will not be able to use the highlighter tool. Instead, teachers should consider partnering students for a brief discussion.

Visit the Accessibility page for detailed information on the site's accessibility features.