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4th grade · Science · Unit 4 of 7

Traits & Variation

Traits come from parents, and the environment matters too.

What your child practices

Practices how plants and animals inherit traits from their parents, how traits vary within a family, and how the environment can change traits like size or health.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 4L.4.1.1.1; 4L.4.2.1.2 · traits passed from parents, and how the environment can change them

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Traits like eye color or fur color are inherited from parents.
  2. The environment can change traits too, like a plant grown in the dark turning pale.
  3. Learned behaviors, like a dog sitting on command, are not inherited.

Example: A plant in a dry pot grows short. Is that inherited or caused by its environment? The plant did not get enough water. That came from where it grew, not from its parents. Answer: its environment

Traits & Variation in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 7 in 4th grade Science, after Magnet Inventions and before Earth's Systems & Water.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    Which is a learned behavior, not inherited?

    • A dog's tail shape
    • A dog sitting on command
    • A dog's fur type
    • A dog's eye color

  2. Question 2

    Which is an inherited trait?

    • Eye color
    • A haircut
    • A scar from a fall
    • Knowing how to read

  3. Question 3

    A sprout grows pale and tall in the dark. Its color is affected by…

    • its seed shape
    • its age only
    • its parents
    • lack of light

  4. Question 4

    Which can a parent pass to its young?

    • Spots on its fur
    • A muddy coat
    • A learned trick
    • A broken leg

  5. Question 5

    Sunflowers in a field are different heights. This shows…

    • they are the same
    • variation
    • they are not plants
    • they are rocks

  6. Question 6

    Two identical twins grow up eating very different foods. They might differ in…

    • blood type
    • weight
    • number of fingers
    • eye color

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