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7th grade · Science · Unit 13 of 16

Asexual & Sexual Reproduction

Clones or variety: how reproduction affects offspring and populations.

What your child practices

Practices comparing asexual reproduction (budding, runners, cuttings, splitting) and sexual reproduction (two parents) in plants and animals, how each affects variety in offspring, and why variety matters for a population over time.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.10; 7.13 · asexual and sexual reproduction and the variation in offspring

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Asexual reproduction uses one parent and makes identical offspring: budding, runners, cuttings, splitting.
  2. Sexual reproduction uses two parents, so offspring get a mix of traits.
  3. Variety helps a population survive diseases and changes.

Example: A strawberry plant grows a runner that roots into a new plant. Asexual or sexual? Only one parent plant is involved. The new plant is identical. Answer: asexual

Asexual & Sexual Reproduction in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 13 of 16 in 7th grade Science, after Genes & Heredity and before Species & Hybrids.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Offspring from asexual reproduction are…

    • always two species
    • unable to grow
    • very different from the parent
    • genetically identical to the parent

  2. Question 2

    Which is an advantage of sexual reproduction?

    • Variety helps some offspring survive changes
    • It needs no mate
    • It is always faster
    • Offspring are clones

  3. Question 3

    A hydra grows a bud that breaks off into a new hydra. This is…

    • fertilization
    • metamorphosis
    • pollination
    • budding

  4. Question 4

    Which is an advantage of asexual reproduction?

    • It makes lots of variety
    • It needs two parents
    • It is fast and needs no mate
    • It always makes stronger offspring

  5. Question 5

    A gardener grows a new rose bush from a cut stem. This is…

    • cross-pollination
    • asexual reproduction
    • sexual reproduction
    • fertilization

  6. Question 6

    Which animal reproduces sexually?

    • A hydra budding
    • A bacterium splitting
    • A horse
    • A planarian splitting

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