Dice Dice Baby

Dominant and Recessive Traits Activity

and Practice Quiz
1. Description of the Setting: What characteristics of the classroom or setting are important to the
lesson? (e.g., grade level, physical set-up of classroom, number of students, adult supports, etc.)
Grade level: 9th-10th grade.
Classroom description: This class is a biology lab and classroom combination with the lecture/instruction
sectioned in the front of the room with the lab set up in the back. The lab set up has tools that are associated
with the course that include microscopes, sinks, and various chemicals, organic specimens, and other
biological samples that we will be working with. The students are seated at tables (two to a table) with
individual chairs for each student. The front of the room associated with lecture activities has a smart board as
the main tool to utilize for lectures, as well as a white board. On the whiteboard is a calendar of the week’s
activities and agendas so that the students feel more prepared for the week. Each seat that a student occupies
is labeled with a number that directly correlates to a phone cubby, and laptop computer from the computer
cart. Students are seated alphabetically to maintain classroom behavior.
In addition, this lesson will be taught in the morning during second hour. (8:15 am to 9:03)
Number of students: 21
Adult support: My cooperating teacher will most likely not be in attendance for this class and therefore I
will be the main support for the room. For additional support in terms of either discipline or safety concerns,
the administration team, security officer, and counselors are available if necessary. She also has a TA student
during her 5th and 6th hour to help with classroom set up.
Class time: 48 minutes

2. Description of the Learners: What do you know about the learners that have influenced your
decisions in planning this lesson? (e.g., learners with disabilities, ELLs, gifted learners, experiential
background knowledge of the learners, cultural diversity of the learners, etc.)
This is an honors biology class, which consists of students who have surpassed certain expectations in the
subject of biology and have passed physical science as an eighth-grade elective. This class is also a pre-step
course for college preparation and a passing grade is required to move onto other AP courses. This results in a
more in-depth look at the content and therefore a more complex workload. This has influenced my lesson in
terms of giving more integrated learning modes and more time for differentiation than a one stylized lesson.
For the same reasons, this class required different scaffolding needs to excel the learning. Taking this into
account, this lesson connects what was completed in the previous unit and allows the students to draw on
previous knowledge for better understanding and comprehension.
In addition, there are two students in the class that have an IEP. One IEP (M.H) consists of giving
accommodation to the student for anxiety and disorganization, while the other student needs accommodation
for dyslexia (M.T). For student M.H. accommodations would include allowing for a quite testing/activity
space as well as allocating for more time spent on worksheets. Keeping track of organization should also be a
priority. A more literal language from the instructors is also noted to remove any possible obstacles that the
student may feel arise. For student M.T., this would include worksheets being more formatted, options for
open and interactive assignments, as well as reading the material outload.
These students will be given opportunities to complete the activity in a quite environment so that they can
better concentrate on it, and/or have more of a one-on-one experience at their request.
Classroom culture is maintained by the teacher and me as a safe environment and is then mutually
reciprocated from the students. Overall, the school culture consists of a diverse group of students culturally
and economically. This set of diversity requires a narrative that is level and focused on equity to ensure
students success.
3. Standards/Quality Indicators/Skills: National, state, and/or local standards, quality indicators, and
skills addressed by this lesson.

9-12.LS4.B.2Apply concepts of statistics and probability to support explanations that organisms with an
advantageous heritable trait tend to increase in proportion to organisms lacking this trait. [Clarification
Statement: Emphasis is on analyzing shifts in numerical distribution of traits and using these shifts as
evidence to support explanations.

4. Lesson Objective(s)
(Lesson objectives should contain observable and measurable target behavior, conditions under which the
target behavior should be performed and criteria for mastery.)
 How does this lesson fit into the larger instructional sequence?

Official Objective: Students will apply concepts of dominant and recessive traits using dice to create data
and then create an image of these traits with a completion of 100%

Student Objectives: Working with your shoulder partner, complete the worksheet using dominant and
recessive traits by the end of the hour.

5. Assessment: Assessment(s) before, during, and after the lesson

Before: As students walk into the room they will sit down at their desks and begin work on their bell ringers.
This bellringer will recap what we did last class and read, “what is the difference between a dominant and
recessive trait?”. This process is automatic for the students as they have been doing this for the duration of the
year and should only require minimum prompting from me at this point. This question will let me know if the
students retained what we did in our last class and use this as a transition into today’s activity. As students
write out this answer, I will walk around the room to help with anyone if they have any questions. Once
everyone is done, I will ask the class about the bellringer, and we will go over the answer as a class. This
again will act as a formative assessment and show me if students are comfortable with the topic, or if we need
or revisit.

During: During the lesson I will be walking around the room and answering questions and helping students
with the concept of the activity. If I feel that there is a question that would benefit the class, I will gather the
class’s attention, and ask for an answer from the class. This way the students can act as a proctor and help
take some control of their learning. As I walk around, I can keep track of what section of the activity the
students find challenge with the most, and see if revision is necessary.

After: Once the students have put everything away and are packed up and waiting for the bell to ring, I will
ask the class how they felt about the activity. I want to know how comfortable they feel about the topic and if
they have any questions over traits, and dominant verses recessive genes. This will be in the form of a thumbs
up, down, or to the side. If there are many students who show a thumbs down or to the side, I will make note
and we can go over the topic next class. If I see more thumbs up, I will still offer extra help, but plan on
moving on to the next lesson from this assessment.
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6. Lesson Procedures: Sequence of events of the lesson elements designed to introduce the lesson,
engage learners in the lesson content, and bring the lesson to a close.
 How will you engage the learners, review prior skills/content, and set a purpose for learning?
 In what ways will you explain the relevance of the lesson to the learners and/or link the lesson to
students' wonderings, experiences, or questions?
 In what ways will you demonstrate the processes you want the learners to follow as they participate in
the lesson?
 How will you structure the lesson so that students can gradually assume responsibility for learning?
 How will you provide feedback to students throughout the lesson and guide them to reflect on what
they learned and their own success in the learning process?
 How will you plan for the allocation of time to the different lesson activities?
As students walk into the room, they will take out their binders and begin the bellringer activity on
the board. This is something that the students do every day as they enter and is part of the yearly expectations
they have for the year. When the bell rings I will make an introduction to the day, and then remind them that
they have a bell ringer to do. While they are filling this out, I will be walking around the room making sure
the students are on task and answer any questions that they have regarding the bellringer, or the previous
day’s lesson. When I see that most students are finished, I will tell them they have about 30 seconds before
we go over it as a class. Once the time is up, I will read the question out loud and then ask for volunteers on
what the answer is and to give some examples. If no one volunteers I will call on students myself to answer. I
want to make sure that the students understand that dominant and recessive traits call for the same base line,
such as hair color, but differ in what is expressed, carried, or not included.
Once the students feel satisfied with their answers, I will tell them to put their binders to the side of their desk
and pass back the dice activity for the day. Once they all have a paper, I will go over the directions with them.
I will read them as follows;
“Here is what we will be doing today, you will be using dice with your shoulder partner to determine
traits in a human baby. These traits are marked as either dominant or recessive on your sheet and will be
randomly created by your dice. Here is what you will do. You and your shoulder partner will each take turns
rolling the dice. If you roll a 1,2, or 3, that will represent a dominant trait and will be written as a capital D.
If you roll a 4,5 or 6 then that will represent a recessive trait with a lowercase d. Depending on what you
roll, you will look onto your phenotype reference chart at the bottom of the page. Remind me again, what is
the difference between phenotype and genotype? (wait for students to answer). Yes, think phenotype with
phototype, its what you see. You will then match what the phenotype is with the genetic trait and fill in you’re
Creating my baby chart. Once the chart is completed, you will draw all of the phenotypes of your child on the
back of your paper. Please, don’t worry if you can’t draw, just try your best. We don’t need to go into doo
much detail, just represent the traits as best you can. Once you and your partner are finished, I will come
around and sign the top corner of it and give you your punent square practice quiz. For your quiz you will
work on your own and when you are finished, I will collect it from you. What are your questions? ( I will then
wait to see if there are any and answer them). Great, I will pass back a baggie with two dice in it, one for you
and one for your partner. You will roll for each trail once and record it in the columns marked partner 1 and
partner 2. Once you have your dice, you may begin.
After I pass out the baggies of dice, I will walk the room answering questions and helping students
with the activity. If someone asks a question, I feel is beneficial to the class I will collect the class’s attention
and ask a peer of the answer. This will give a different perspective on the topic as well as let the students take
some responsibility for their learning as well. As students are finishing up their work I will sign it, and then
hand them the practice quiz for them to complete. When the students are finished with that, they should raise
their hand and I will collect it for a grade.
Depending on how much time is left, I will either allow for a few minutes of free time at their desk or give
them additional information on genetics if they desire more in-depth learning.
When there are about 6 minutes left, I will ask them to please make sure that all of the dice are back

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up with me in their baggies, coloring utensils are put away, and everything is cleaned up. Once that is done, I
will ask the class how they felt about the activity and if it helped them understand dominant and recessive
traits in an organism, thumbs up, down, or to the side. Depending on the answer, I will ask them what they are
still confused on, or if there is an area that we should go over again. Otherwise, I will just give a brief
overview of what I expect them to understand, and if they need additional help, I am always available. Once
the bell rings they are dismissed.

Time allocation for this lesson will take approximately 48 minutes.

Bellringer: 5-7 minutes
Instructions: >2 minutes
Activity: 25-35 minutes
Cleanup and content check : Remaining time.

7. Resources and Materials: List of materials used in planning and during the implementation of the
lesson

1. Smart board
2. Google Classroom https://classroom.google.com/c/NTI0MjIzMjM2NzMx?cjc=5sgoti7
3. Two dice per group
4. Dice Dice Baby worksheet (on google classroom).
5. Punnent Square practice quiz
6. Coloring utensils (markers, crayons, colored pencils etc).
7. Additional notes if necessary (in google classroom)
8. Optional web activity for supplementary instruction. Link: Practice Punnett Square #1 - Labelled
diagram (wordwall.net)
9. Additional video notes: Dominant Alleles vs Recessive Alleles | Understanding Inheritance -
YouTube

Works Cited:

YouTube. (2017, February 4). Dominant alleles vs recessive alleles | understanding inheritance. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-_fwABa2BU&ab_channel=2MinuteClassroom

Mrsmartinscience. (2020, March 26). Practice punnett square #1. Wordwall.

https://wordwall.net/resource/1074240/practice-punnett-square-1

8. Embedded Technology: Instructional and/or assistive technology incorporated into the lesson to
enhance instruction, student learning, and assessment.

All my materials will be available on the Canvas page as well as my Google Classroom. For my
student M.T. this is another opportunity for him to work with his shoulder partner or have access to the
internet activity if the worksheet is challenging with his dyslexia. There is a double component to the
worksheet and thus he can be given the task of rolling the dice while his partner helps with reading the
directions. He can also take charge of drawing the baby on the back of the page. At this point in the year, he
knows that for instances like this he can explain to me how different worksheets come across to him and can
ask for either help, or to go to the resource room for assistance. The online version can be read to him though
his ear pods as well. My other students M.H may also use the resource room if she wishes for her anxiety, but
this activity is a quiet activity so there shouldn’t be a challenge for her in this aspect. We are however
prepared if it is for any reason to ensure she can learn the material without hindrance.

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9. Differentiation/Accommodations/Modifications/Increase in Rigor: To help meet
the needs of all learners, learning differences, cultural and language differences, etc.
 How are you embedding Universal Design for Learning principles within the lesson?
 What specific accommodations are you providing for individual learners and how are
these being provided?
 How are you modifying the outcome, process, or product for individual learners?
Universal Design for Learning Principles:
 Engagement (why): This subject showcases why it is we look the way we do. It brings
connections to our ancestry, biological families, as well as putting into order and
introduction of more complicated subjects involving traits that are passed down. It also
explains how some children get certain traits from their parents, and how some do not
get the same traits. It brings connections to each student which gains their interest,
every time.

 Representation (what): We will be looking at dominant and recessive traits under

Mendelian rules as a base line for understanding. We will be clarifying new
vocabulary, and structures of organizing the traits into something easier to visualize
and understand. This will be illustrated by taking our genetic findings and putting it
together into a visual drawing for the students to create.

 Action and Expression (How): This will be done by applying the notes that we took
in previous classes and using them as a means of composition of our “baby”. This will
then be followed by the practice of punnent squares to put another visual aid into the
students mind and give them another form of content absorption. The activity will
work as a guide for learning and help them discover areas that are complicated to
understand, and how to express those difficulties for better explanations.

Specific accommodation is provided within the lesson plan as partner work for those
students who struggle with either reading or writing the material. This still allows for students
to work in a group and play an equal part to their success in completing the assignment. This
worksheet can also be completed at home, or in another room with all materials that would be
necessary for reference being located on the google classroom page.
Other forms of continuance would be a refresher on notes as well as an additional website
tutorial for student use.

Modification of this activity can be made depending on how long it takes the students to
work through the first worksheet. If they need more time, the second practice assignment can
be made for another day, as homework, or not used at all.

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10. Classroom Management: Strategies consistent with the learning needs of the lesson
that also meet student behavior needs to help keep learners on task and actively engaged
 How will you review classroom rules and procedures?
 What specific procedures will be in place to ensure smooth transitions between lesson
activities?
 How will you provide reinforcement or acknowledgment to the whole group or individual
learners for appropriate behavior?
 How are you using individualized behavior supports for individual learners?

I will go over my expectations for the class as I read the instructions for the worksheets.
What I want to emphasize is that even though the students will be rolling dice on their tables, I
do not expect them to throw the dice across the room, or purposefully using too much force on
the dice and they fly across the room. Anyone who throws their dice will be written up. They
should also continue to stay in their seats the entirety of the class, and everything must be put
away when they are finished.

As far as general classroom management there are expectations that were discussed at the
beginning of the year that pertain to all forms of lecture and activities, they are as follows;
 To use the bathroom, you must ask permission to go.
 Cellphones are to be either face down on your desk, or in your bag put away.
 Food and drink are not allowed in the lab but can be eaten at your tables.
 Ear buds cannot be played while in lecture.
 Students are not allowed in the lab at any time. Failure to follow this rule will require a
detention and a write up.
 Once students are completed with their work and if time allows, students may use their
phones as a reward.

11. Supplementary Activities: Activities for early finishers or if the lesson is completed
early that extend learners' understanding of and thinking about the lesson objectives by
applying their new knowledge in a different way

For those students who finish early, they may work on their study guides, or organize
their binders in preparation for next week’s binder check. If they are finished with that, they
may use the remaining time as free time.
If there is a student who wants to dive deeper into the subject, I will show them a link
to an online activity where they can explore the concept deeper. (see materials list).

If the students are struggling with the concept, I have a video they can watch as a quick

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refresher as well. This may put things into another perspective for the students to understand
better.

Video link: Dominant Alleles vs Recessive Alleles | Understanding Inheritance - YouTube

12. Lesson Evaluation and Reflection

 To what extent did the learners meet the lesson objectives?
 In what ways did you provide feedback to learners?
 Which activities or strategies did you find the most effective in the lesson?
 What adjustments will you make in future lessons?
 How will you build on today's learning in your next lesson?
 For this lesson my students completed the first worksheet and turned in their
hypothetical babies so that they could be placed on the board. Most students finished
the second worksheet with only a few needing to complete it for homework.
 I provided feedback to my students by walking around the room and giving further
explanations and answering questions. I also concluded the lesson by asking for
feedback from the students in terms of thumbs up, down, or to the side in terms of how
they felt about the content, and the lesson. I reminded them of their test next week, and
allowed those who were finished to have a few minutes of free time before the bell
rang.
 I feel that there are two strategies that fit just about every lesson to make a lesson more
effective. I feel that repetition is important for students to learn, as well as using other
students in the room to help answer or explain concepts. This way they get a student’s
perspective on the context which can help them to understand the lesson better.
 The only adjustments that I would make for this lesson is go over my expectations with
the dice and the coloring utensils a bit better. Though this wasn’t an issue for this class,
for another class during the day it was. I want to make sure that I address any potential
classroom management before they arise.
 Using what the students learned in this lesson we will continue to go into more
complex points of inheritance and genetics by introducing codominant and independent
traits. We will draw on lesson from previous units in terms of DNA coding and protein
synthesis and explore diseases and mutations that can be passed down to people
generation to generation.

Additional Information
Any area or lesson component that may not have been covered by this format that you think
is vital to include in this lesson

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 Dice Dice Baby

Name: _______________________________________________ Date: ______________

Directions:
 Capital letter “D” is a dominant trait – if present it controls the expression of the trait
(“DD” or “Dd”)
Dice numbers 1-3 = Dominant Trait

 Lower case letter “d” is a recessive trait – recessive traits will only be expressed when
two recessives (“dd”) are present.
Dice numbers 4-6 = Recessive Trait
1. Partner 1 rolls the die and records either “D” (1-3) for dominant trait or “d” (4-6) for recessive
trait in Table 1: Creating My Baby.
2. Partner 2 rolls the die and records either “D” (1-3) for dominant trait or “d” (4-6) for recessive
trait in Table 1: Creating My Baby.
3. Based on the results, find the genetic combination for the trait (see Phenotype Reference
Chart).

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4. On the back of this page, draw the phenotypes to complete the picture of your child.
Table 1: Creating My Baby
Genetic Trait Partner 1 Partner 2 Genotype Phenotype
Face Shape
Hair Type
Widows Peak
Eyebrow Placement
Eye Color
Mouth Size
Lips
Dimples
Nose
Earlobes
Freckles
Phenotype Reference Chart
Genetic Trait DD Dd dd
Face Shape Round Round Square
Hair Type Curly Curly Straight
Widows Peak Present Present Absent
Eyebrow Placement Not connected Not connected Connected (unibrow)
Eye Color Brown Brown Blue
Mouth Size Long Long Short
Lips Thick Thick Thin
Dimples Present Present Absent
Nose Pointy Pointy Round
Earlobes Not attached Not attached Attached
Freckles Present Present Absent

Punnett Square worksheet Name ____________________

Draw a punnett square for the following genetic crosses and tell me the genotypic and
Phenotypic ratios.

1. Cross a heterozygous tall plant (Tt) with a homozygous short plant (tt)

Genotypic ratio ____________________________

Phenotypic ratio ____________________________

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 2. Cross a Homozygous dominant tall plant (TT) with a Heterozygous tall plant (Tt)

Genotypic Ratio ____________________________

Phenotypic Ratio ____________________________

3. Cross a Homozygous green seed plant (GG) with a Homozygous recessive yellow seed
plant (gg).

Genotypic Ratio _________________________________

Phenotypic Ratio _________________________________

4. Cross a heterozygous tall plant (Tt) with another heterozygous tall plant (Tt).

Genotypic ratio __________________________________

Phenotypic ratio ________________________________

5. Cross 2 Homozygous dominant green seed plants (GG)

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Genotypic Ratio ____________________________________

Phenotypic Ratio __________________________________

6. Alternate forms of a trait (yellow vs green seeds) are called ___________.

7. When parents pass down different forms of a trait (G and g), then their offspring are
_____________________ for that trait.
a. Heterozygous
b. Homozygous

8. Match the following pairs

_____ Homozygous dominant A. Tt

_____ Heterozygous dominant B. TT
_____ Homozygous recessive C. tt

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