UbD Lesson Plan

Subject: SCIENCE
Teacher’s Name: MARIA ANWAR
Unit Title: Grade Level: 8
Variation & Inheritance
Approximate Time Frame: 60 minutes each lesson

Essential Science Vocabulary: variation, adaptation, offspring, natural selection, heredity, genetics,
chromosomes, environmental factors, genetic factors, species,
genes, DNA, natural selection, selective breeding, antibiotics. biotechnology, vaccine, fermentation, gene
therapy

Brief Overview (Summary) of the Unit:

Recognise the processes of selective breeding used in animal and vegetable/ fruit farming for improved quality
and better yield and Define biotechnology as the use of living cells and organisms in products and processes that
can improve the quality of life.

Stage 1 – Desired Results (Acquisition, Meaning Making and Transfer)

Key Standards (From the Pakistan National Curriculum):
Students are able to describe the process of selective breeding and describe how biotechnology helps to improve
human life.

Transfer
(What kinds of long-term, independent accomplishments are desired?)
Students will demonstrate an understanding of _____ and apply it independently to a new problem or situation.
● Engage in an investigation to analyze data about a population of corn and use the data to create an
explanation for how humans used artificial selection to solve a problem.
● Use the information from the videos and reading leaflets as evidence for Biotechnology and other ways
humans use biotechnology
● Create an explanation for how the corn, grape, and other populations change.
● Discuss how biotechnology has enhanced human lives and discuss how this is demonstrated within the
video and text provided
● Be able to talk about the importance of scientific ideas learned in class and explanations and use creative
thinking to address the key questions

Meaning Making

Understandings Essential Questions

Big Ideas framed as Understandings: Students will Big Questions (Long Term):
understand that…
● Is it possible to make super humans one day?

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 ● Artificial selection can lead to the evolution of a
whole organism
● Humans have changed the genes of living
things by breeding for thousands of years.
● Biotechnology is when we use our knowledge
of biological processes to solve problems.
● We use products improved with biotechnology
every day from food to medicines to
biodegradable plastics.
● How the production of vaccines has changed
using biotechnology
Topical Understanding: Students will understand that…
● Natural selection and artificial selection have
caused the evolution.
● Processes of selective breeding are used in
animal and vegetable/ fruit farming for
improved quality and better yield.
● Biotechnology is a vast field and its applications
are widely used in Pakistan
● Biotechnology as the use of living cells and
● organisms in products and processes that can
improve the quality of life.
● There are many ways we have used
biotechnology today
Acquisition of Knowledge and Skill
Knowledge: Students will be
● able to differentiate b/t artificial selection and
natural selection.
● Recognise the processes of selective breeding
used in animal and vegetable/ fruit farming for
improved quality and better yield.
● Describe artificial selection leads to evolution
● Define biotechnology
● State application of biotechnology
● Explain the application of biotechnology in
Pakistan
● Identify different ways of genetic modification.
Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022
● Do pest-resistant plants not alter the food
chain?
● In the future, biotechnology could be used to
select traits in unborn babies. Should this be
allowed?
Topical Questions (Short Term):
● similarities between selective and natural
selection
● Name some ways farmers can selectively breed
plants, and organisms?
● What is a hybrid?
● How can humans affect the traits of other living
organisms?
● How biotechnology can be used to develop
biofortified crops and medical treatments?
● What is GMO
● Name the plants and traits that have been
genetically modified in Pakistan?
● Describe a few applications of biotechnology?
Skills/Performance: Students will be able to…
● Apply prior knowledge to solve the problem
and answer questions
● Investigate to solve a problem
● Extract and interpretation of
knowledge/skill/idea from videos and reading
material to apply it to solve/answer questions
● pose a question based on learning
● working in a collaborative environment
● apply the new larned skill to pose bigger
questions
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Task or Other Key Evidence of learning: (What will students understand and/or be able to do?)

● Interpret and differentiate between selective breeding and natural selection by watching videos and
performing an investigation.
● Read, interpret and discuss the Biotechnology applications handouts in their groups and discuss it within
the group
● Correctly attempt and complete the Biotechnologyapplication worksheet” worksheet.
● big ideas and questions posed during discussion
● Apply learned ideas to fill in the entry and exit tickets
(Note - All handouts and worksheets are attached in stage 3)

Key criteria to measure Performance Task(s) or Key Evidence:

Examples: Rubric, Checklist, etc.
● student responses to questions during discussion and during written work should show a progression
towards reasoning with use of appropriate scientific terminologies and vocabulary.
● Responses provided on the worksheet should show elaboration of ideas to apply in real life
● Extended approach used to answer, the question of exit ticket

Other Evidence to reflect student learning (formative and/or summative measures)

Unit Title: Variation and Subject: Science Grade Level: 8

Inheritance

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

Stage 3 - Learning Plan, Experiences, and Instruction:
Learning Activities: Consider the WHERETO elements:
W—Ensure that students understand WHERE the unit is headed, and WHY.
H—HOOK students in the beginning and HOLD their attention throughout.
E—EQUIP students with necessary experiences, tools, knowledge, and know-how to meet
performance goals.
R—Provide students with numerous opportunities to RETHINK big ideas, REFLECT on progress, and
REVISE their work.
E—Build in opportunities for students to EVALUATE progress and self-assess.
T—Be TAILORED to reflect individual talents, interests, styles, and needs.
O—Be ORGANIZED to optimize deep understanding as opposed to superficial coverage-(lesson
sequence in a unit)
Unit The Teacher will… The Students will…
Plan
Lesson 01- Selective Breeding
WHERETO

Brainstorming:
Ask:
● The teacher will ask students to
look at their own traits such as
Natural hair colour, skin tone, and
eye colour and discuss where they
came from.
The student will know from their prior
knowledge that they get these traits from
their parents.
Storyboard: 4
The teacher will share a storyboard related
to the natural selection of lions. The
storyboard indicates the entire process, but
it does not mention anywhere that the
process is natural selection.
● The students will be asked to
interpret what is happening in this
storyboard through their prior
knowledge.
WHERETO
The student will interpret from their
prior knowledge of heredity, and DNA
that all the traits that have been
mentioned by the teacher are heritable
traits that have specific genes within
our DNA and hence they are been
transferred from their parents.
Students will look at the screen of
multimedia and display the storyboard.
Through the storyboard, they will be
able to interpret using prior knowledge
that the storyboard depicts the process
of natural selection over a period of
hundreds of years.

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 ● Teacher will further ask them to
name a few other organisms that
over the course of years due to
different adaptations and natural
selection processes are today
evolved forms of themselves. Students will further put in. Natural
selection leads to the evolution of
many species including humans,
crocodiles and resistant strains of
bacteria.
WHERETO
Teacher will show students the video of
cotton candy and ask the following
questions.

LINK: Cotton Candy grapes

Students will watch the video.
Ask:
● Can you get grapes to taste like
cotton candy?
● How did they know how to make
them taste different from regular
grapes?

Discussion: Students will be encouraged to Student sits in a group of three and

discuss the questions within a group and
then share their possible answers with the
rest of the groups.
The teacher will note down all the possible
answers to the questions on a board where
every student can have access to the ideas
from the rest of the class.
discusses the questions that have been
asked by the teacher. They can also
come up with different questions of
their own, such as
● Why do they still look like
regular grapes?
● What do they do to the grapes
to give them all the different
shapes and colours?

WHERETO
Linking natural selection to selective
breeding:
Students will now work in small groups to
brainstorm ideas of how these farmers
made grapes that taste like cotton candy.
The student will make small initial models, A
model of how they think the cotton candy
grapes might have been developed.
WHERETO
Students work in small groups.
They brainstorm ideas of how grape
farmers made cotton candy grapes.
They make models on charts through
their prior knowledge and
brainstorming and discussion.

Gallery walk:

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 Students will have a gallery walk in each of
the groups where a student will describe
their model of “how the cotton candy
grapes have been achieved”.
Whenever needed, the teacher will add
prompts to the question asked by the peers,
such as.
Can you explain?
Why did you added a certain term?
WHERETO
At this point, students cannot differentiate
between natural selection and artificial
selection
In order to further explore the topic and
connect the dots students will perform an
investigation.
Investigation:
The teacher will break students into pairs or
small groups and hand out the materials.
Each group will need:
• 9 green chips
• 12 blue chips
• 12 red chips
• 8 yellow chips
• 1 brown paper bag
•the investigation sheet
To begin the investigation,
Students will be provided with all the
material and instructions required.
Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022
Students engage in gallery walks.
Following the gallery work student will
revise their models by inculcating the
feedback.
WHERETO
In order to further explore, students
will conduct an investigation for which
all the material has been provided by
the teacher.
This investigation allows students to
collect data about how humans might
manipulate a plant population using a
practice called artificial selection.
Students will be able to comprehend
that artificial selection is when humans
determine what organisms to breed
together to get the desired traits. Just
like our investigation where we are
investigating to have a tall and sweet
breed of corn.

When the investigation ends. The teacher
will engage students in a class discussion to
reflect on and share what they determined
from their results.
WHERETO
Discussion:
The teacher will ask students:
● How the investigation they
performed relates to crop
development?
● How long it takes plants like Corn to
grow and how long it might take for
the type of corn we want to develop
naturally?
When students are done sharing, the
teacher will define biotechnology (using
biological processes to solve a problem) for
the students.
Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022
The student will discuss their results
with the rest of the groups and the
discussion must include the following.
● Certain combinations of
parents gave you better
chances at getting the plant
you wanted.
● Some groups never got 2 of the
desired plants.
● Some groups caught 2 of the
desired plants. In future.
WHERETO
Students will reflect on the
investigation and relate selective
breeding to crop production and
discuss the questions and be able to
differentiate between artificial and
natural selection
 Video:
To Further elaborated on the topic teacher
will show a video showing that the same
process is used to create new dog breeds,
some of which did not exist even 20 years
ago.
LINK: Natural Selection Video For Kids | 6th,
7th & 8th Grade Science
The student will watch the video.
They will ask questions whenever they
find it difficult in order to comprehend
the concept of selective breeding or
artificial selection.

Teacher will ask students to name a few Students will share their ideas and
plants and animals in Pakistan that are the name a few local plants or animals that
result of selective breeding and what traits have been the result of selective
were electively bred breeding

.
Lesson 02- Biotechnology
WHERETO

Recall: Entry ticket:

Students will give verbal responses to
Which of the following is true about the question and discuss their peer
selective breeding? Choose two answers. answers.
● Selective breeding is a recent
approach to biotechnology.
● Selective breathing can be used to
make plants taste better.
● Selective breeding and be used to
make animals healthier.
● Selective breeding is always about
producing food.
Explanation:
The teacher will explain how the corn Students apply the previous lesson
investigation, the cotton-candy-flavored learning of selective breeding to
grapes, and different dog breeds are comprehend the term
developed using biotechnology. BIOTECHNOLOGY and state its
Teacher will explain that the idea of definition.
biotechnology existed hundreds of years
ago without the knowledge of genes and
chromosomes.

WHERETO WHERETO
Explore 1: Students are involved in exploring
The teacher will play a video regarding information and in sense-making by
benefits of biotechnology. The teacher will asking questions and discussing.

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 pauses video from time to time to explain
the new terms and answer any queries from
the students.

LINK:
https://www.generationgenius.com/videole
ssons/biotechnology-video-for-kids/

WHERETO
Explore 2:
Students will be arranged in groups of three
or four and each group will be provided
with leaflets regarding the biotechnology
applications.
Students will explore the biotechnology
applications and discuss them within a
group.
WHERETO
Students read the leaflets in each
group and answer the accompanying
questions. They can discuss their
understanding and answers with their
peers as they work.

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 Along with this teacher will distribute
worksheets as well. the teacher will ask
students to fill in the worksheet within a

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 group. each group will work on one
application.

The teacher will take rounds and interact

with each group to cater for their problems,
misunderstandings and learning gaps.

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 This written work activity helps teachers
asses students' understanding and learning
also uncovers gaps in learning and indicates
which ideas need revisiting.
WHERETO
Extension:
The teacher will show a genetically
engineered tobacco plant and ask students
Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022
Students are given a variety of
questions/ problems in a worksheet
that help them apply their learnings to
topical as well as thinking questions
and make it relatable to real life,
WHERETO
Students think about and analyse what
they see as they try to connect
information about biotechnology and
its application
 ● what do they think about this photo
● how was this plant achieved
Further teacher will show the video to
elaborate how biotechnology is now
working to alter genetic makeup to come up
with desired traits and revolutionize medical
industry
LINK:
What's the Difference Between G…
Students watch the video and start
debating on gene therapy, and genetic
This video will raise a discussion and give engineering and raises questions
rise to certain questions such as regarding its moral and ethical values
and services as well.
1. is it possible to make super humans The teacher will act as a facilitator and
one day? answer the scientific aspect of the
2. Do pest-resistant plants not alter question keeping religious, moral ad
the food chain? ethical parts for discussion
3. In the future, biotechnology could
be used to select traits in unborn
babies. Should this be allowed?

WHERETO WHERETO
Exit Ticket: Students will fill out the exit ticket by
The teacher will distribute the exit ticket at applying ideas and concepts they built
the end of the class. in the class and submit it to the teacher
The exit ticket is an opportunity for students
to use the science ideas they built in the
lesson in a new context

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

Plans for after this lesson/competency is complete (How will you extend, enrich?):
Students will reflect on Selective breeding and biotechnology and be able to research for the
genetically modified crops in Pakistan and biofortified crops used in Pakistan. also, extend the
learning to design a project of biodegradable plastic and submit it in the upcoming week

Key Resources Used: Websites, books, video clips, etc.

Type of Resource(s): Name of

Resource(s
):

cotton
candy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mANHxuIBwAA
grapes

https://sbt.blob.core.windows.net/storyboards/aboyd14/natural-selection- story board

cartoon.png

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022

 https://www.generationgenius.com/videolessons/natural-selection-video-f natural
or-kids/ selection

https://www.generationgenius.com/videolessons/biotechnology-video-for- biotechnol
kids/ ogy

Cambridge textbook and worksheets text pages

and
worksheet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO4-KFEz8NE gene
therapy vs
cell
therapy

Adapted from Wiggins & McTighe, 2011 (The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High
Quality Units)

Dr Tasneem Anwar | AKU-IED | December 21, 2022