Subscribe

8th grade · Science · Unit 6 of 11

Genes & Heredity

Genes, mutations and reproduction.

What your child practices

Practices how genes on chromosomes code for proteins that shape traits, how mutations can be harmful, helpful or neutral, and how sexual and asexual reproduction differ in passing on genes.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: MS-LS3-1; MS-LS4-5 · genes and mutations, and technologies that influence inheritance

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Genes are pieces of DNA on chromosomes. They code for proteins that shape traits.
  2. A dominant allele shows its trait when present; a recessive one shows only if there are two.
  3. Mutations change DNA and can be harmful, helpful or neutral.

Example: B (brown) is dominant over b. Which color is an animal that is Bb? One dominant allele is enough to show. B is brown. Answer: brown

Genes & Heredity in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 6 of 11 in 8th grade Science, after Fields & Forces at a Distance and before Natural Selection.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Asexual reproduction produces offspring that are…

    • a mix of two parents
    • very different from the parent
    • always sterile
    • genetically identical to the parent

  2. Question 2

    Mutations can be…

    • harmful, helpful or neutral
    • always harmful
    • never inherited
    • always helpful

  3. Question 3

    Which organism reproduces asexually by budding?

    • Robin
    • Yeast
    • Salmon
    • Dog

  4. Question 4

    A mutation is…

    • a new cell wall
    • a type of food
    • a kind of rock
    • a change in DNA

  5. Question 5

    Different forms of a gene are called…

    • alleles
    • proteins
    • chromosomes
    • cells

  6. Question 6

    Bb × Bb: what fraction of offspring are expected to be bb?

    • 0
    • 3/4
    • 1/4
    • 1/2

More 8th grade