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9th grade · Science · Unit 2 of 10

Reproduction

Asexual and sexual reproduction

What your child practices

How organisms reproduce with one parent or two, why sexual reproduction creates variety, the parts of a flower, and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

Alaska content standards learning standard: HS-LS3-2 · how sexual reproduction creates genetic variation

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Asexual reproduction makes offspring from one parent; they are identical to it.
  2. Sexual reproduction joins an egg and a sperm from two parents, so offspring get a new mix of genes.
  3. In a flower, the stamen makes pollen and the pistil holds the eggs.

Example: A potato sprouts a new plant from its eye. Asexual or sexual reproduction? Only one parent is involved. No egg or sperm joins. Answer: asexual

Reproduction in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 2 of 10 in 9th grade Science, after Cells from Cells and before Atoms & Electrons.

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: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

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

    In plants, what are the male parts of a flower called (together)?

    • petals
    • stamens
    • sepals
    • pistils

  2. Question 2

    Which is an example of asexual reproduction?

    • A strawberry plant growing a runner
    • A human baby being born
    • A bird laying eggs after mating
    • A frog laying eggs that are fertilized

  3. Question 3

    Asexual or sexual reproduction? Sort each example.

    Sort into: 1️⃣ Asexual · 2️⃣ Sexual

    • 🪴a spider plant sends out a plantlet
    • 🦠bacteria split in two
    • 🐟a salmon's egg is fertilized by a sperm
    • 🥔a potato eye grows into a new plant
    • 🐦a bird lays fertilized eggs
    • 🌻a seed grows from a pollinated flower
    • 🐝a bee carries pollen to an apple flower
    • 🪸a hydra grows a bud

  4. Question 4

    Offspring from asexual reproduction are…

    • completely different from the parent
    • a mix of two parents' genes
    • always female
    • genetically identical to the parent

  5. Question 5

    Why does sexual reproduction increase variety within a species?

    • Offspring get a new mix of genes from two parents.
    • Mutations never happen.
    • Offspring are copies of one parent.
    • Parents choose which genes to pass on.

  6. Question 6

    Budding in yeast and hydra is a type of…

    • fertilization
    • photosynthesis
    • asexual reproduction
    • sexual reproduction

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