Summary
Pea plants have provided us with much more than vegetables. By studying these organisms, a scientist named Gregor Mendel discovered how traits get passed from parent to offspring, in packages called genes. The patterns he found show up not only in pea plants, but in all kinds of living things—including us. Mendel’s revolutionary discovery helps us predict which versions of a gene, or alleles, an offspring will receive from its parents. Using a tool called the Punnett square, we can determine all of the possible combinations of alleles, and identify the most likely outcome. Press “play” to learn how!
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A few questions to talk through after watching Heredity:
- What is one new thing you learned about heredity?
- Can you explain it to a partner in your own words?
- Where might you see this in the real world?
- What is one question you still have?
Quick work-a-long
Try it:
- Write one sentence explaining heredity.
- Draw or give one example of your own.