KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Teacher Candidate: Abby Olsen

Cooperating Teacher:
Group Size:

24

Date: 2/25/16

Coop. Initials

Allotted Time: 45 minutes Grade Level: 4th

Subject or Topic: Heredity & Gregor Mendel

Section:

12pm

STANDARD: (PA Common Core)

3.1 Biological Sciences
3.1.B. Genetics
3.1.3.B1. Heredity Understand that plants and animals closely resemble their parents.
I.

Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes)

A. Students will display knowledge of why offspring often resemble their parents by
completing the student booklet.

II.

Instructional Materials
A. What is a Gene? Passage read during the Introduction
B. 24 Student Pea Seed Booklets
C. Gregor Mendel PowerPoint
D. Scissors to cut their books
E. Stapler bind book pages together

III.

Subject Matter/Content
A. Prerequisite skills:
1. Students will need background knowledge of sexual reproduction and
asexual reproduction.
2. Students will need basic understanding of cells undergoing mitosis.
B. Big Idea: Genetic Information passes from parents to offspring.
C. Key vocabulary:
1. Heredity the passing of physical characteristics from parents to offspring
2. Trait distinguishing characteristics or qualities that are part of an
organisms physical appearance
3. Genetics the scientific study of heredity; explains why we look the way
we do
4. Gene the factors that control each trait
5. Allele the different forms of a gene; the gene that controls height has one
tall allele and one short allele
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IV.

D. Content:
1. History of heredity
2. Gregor Mendel
3. Gregor Mendels pea plant experiment
4. Gregor Mendels 3 laws of genetics
Implementation
A. Introduction
1. Read a short passage to the class. (Attached)
2. Ask the students to reflect on some commonalities between themselves and
a parent or family member. Have students share some of these
commonalities with a partner.
B. Development
1. Write the vocabulary words on the board: heredity, trait, genetics, gene, and
allele.
2. Say each word out loud for the students to hear the pronunciation.
3. Explain to students that we will be going on a vocabulary search to find
the meaning of each of the words written on the board. Anytime they hear a
vocab word, instruct them to be the first to raise their hand and explain what
it means.
4. When the student correctly says the meaning of a vocabulary word, the
teacher will write it on the board. Have students copy all the vocabulary
words and definitions into their Science notebooks at the end of the lesson.
5. Give each student a Where Did My Looks Come From? booklet. (Attached)
6. Explain that they will fill the booklet out as we go over the material.
7. Begin with the PowerPoint that corresponds to the student booklet, Gregor
Mendel. (Attached)
a. Instruct students to follow along beginning with page 1 in the
booklet.
b. Introduce Gregor Mendel as the Father of Genetics.
c. While explaining some of Mendels key findings, allow the
students to draw or write about what fact stood out to them the
most.
d. While explaining the Crossing of Pea Plants, instruct the
students to draw pictures signifying Mendel's Pea Plant
experiment
e. Finally, when explaining Mendel's 3 laws, allow the students to
choose how they want to convey the main idea of each law in
their booklet.

C. Closure
1. Have the children cut out each page of their booklet and staple the pages
together. (Completed book is the formative assessment)
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2. Read the book, Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl
Bardoe.
3. When the book is over, the students will go back to their seats and copy the
vocabulary words and definitions down in their Science notebooks.
D. Accommodations / Differentiation:
1. Accommodations: A is identified with ADHD. To accommodate her in this
lesson, I have carefully designed the student booklets to make learning
more interactive and engaging.
2. Differentiation: students are given choice on how they want to display what
they learned in their booklets.

V.

E. Assessment/Evaluation plan
1. Formative
a. Evaluate the information conveyed in the student's booklet on
Gregor Mendel
2. Summative
a. There is no summative assessment for this lesson.
Reflective Response
A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of States Objectives

B. Personal Reflection
1. Will the information be too in-depth for the students to understand and
grasp?
2. How could this lesson be improved?
3. How was my time management?
VI. Resources
A. What is a Gene? Passage http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/what-is-gene.html
B. Bardoe, C., & Smith, J. A. (2006). Gregor Mendel: The friar who grew peas. New
York: Abrams Books for Young Readers.

What Is a Gene?

The doorbell rings. Emma's dad calls out, "Emma, answer the door! I'm making dinner and my
hands are full!"
Emma puts down her book, and heads to the door. As she opens it slowly, a burst of mostly
familiar faces rush through the door. Aunts, uncles, and cousins she hasn't seen in years greet her
enthusiastically.
Aunt Rita pulls Emma into a hug and says, "Well, look at you! You've grown! And you've got
such beautiful red, curly hair! It runs in the family, you know. You look just like my
grandmother!"
Uncle Michael adds, "And, look, she's getting so tall! Just like her dad. Only 10 years old, and
you look like a basketball player already!"
Emma's dad emerges from the kitchen to greet the guests. As he helps everyone get settled,
Emma wonders, "Aunt Rita's grandmother? It runs in the family? What are they talking about?"
Genes (say: jeenz), that's what they're talking about. Genes play an important role in determining
physical traits how we look and lots of other stuff about us. They carry information that
makes you who you are and what you look like: curly or straight hair, long or short legs, even
how you might smile or laugh. Many of these things are passed from one generation to the next
in a family by genes.

http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/what-is-gene.html

Gregor Mendel

The Father of Genetics

 Gregor Mendel is known as

the Father of Genetics.
He studied pea plants,
because they were easy to
observe and reproduce.
Knowing that the male
part of the plant produced
sperm, and that the
female part produced the
egg, he was able to join
the two reproductive cells.
This is called fertilization.

Who is Gregor Mendel?

Crossing Pea Plants

Law of
Dominance

Law of
Segregation

Law of
Independent
Assortment

Mendels 3 Laws of Genetics

During reproduction the alleles separate

so each parent can only pass on one allele
per trait. We get half of our genes from
each parent.

Law of Segregation

Dominant alleles can mask/ hide

recessive alleles

Genotypes:

Phenotypes:

Homozygous
dominant:(AA)

Dominant trait is expressed

Heterozygous: (Aa)

Dominant trait is expressed

Homozygous recessive:(aa)

Recessive trait is expressed

Law of Dominance

Genes on separate chromosomes are

passed on independently (randomly)
from one another.
When traits are passed on to offspring,
each individual trait is determined by
itself.
For example, your hair color and eye
color are two different traits, therefore
they will not mix when determining
what hair and eye color you will have.

Law of Independent Assortment