9th grade · Science · Unit 2 of 14
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.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: B.8(A) · meiosis and how sexual reproduction increases variation
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Asexual reproduction makes offspring from one parent; they are identical to it.
- Sexual reproduction joins an egg and a sperm from two parents, so offspring get a new mix of genes.
- 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 Texas
In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 2 of 14 in 9th grade Science, after Cells from Cells and before Microbes & the Immune System.
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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which is a way flowering plants reproduce sexually?
- A branch is cut and planted
- A leaf grows into a new plant
- A tuber sprouts
- Pollen from one flower fertilizes another flower's ovule
Pollen from one flower fertilizes another flower's ovule
Hint: Pollination moves pollen to the female part of a flower so seeds can form.
Question 2
Asexual or sexual reproduction? Sort each example.
Sort into: 1️⃣ Asexual · 2️⃣ Sexual
- 🪴a spider plant sends out a plantlet
- 🌻a seed grows from a pollinated flower
- 🐝a bee carries pollen to an apple flower
- 🐦a bird lays fertilized eggs
- 🦠bacteria split in two
- 🐟a salmon's egg is fertilized by a sperm
- 🥔a potato eye grows into a new plant
- 🪸a hydra grows a bud
1️⃣ Asexual: a spider plant sends out a plantlet, bacteria split in two, a potato eye grows into a new plant, a hydra grows a bud · 2️⃣ Sexual: a seed grows from a pollinated flower, a bee carries pollen to an apple flower, a bird lays fertilized eggs, a salmon's egg is fertilized by a sperm
Hint: Asexual reproduction involves one parent and produces identical copies. Sexual reproduction joins sex cells from two parents.
Question 3
What is the role of the ovary in a flower?
- It holds the flower up.
- It attracts pollinators.
- It makes pollen.
- It holds the ovules, which may become seeds.
It holds the ovules, which may become seeds.
Hint: After fertilization, the ovary can become a fruit that protects the seeds.
Question 4
Meiosis is the type of cell division that produces…
- new organelles
- two identical nuclei
- identical body cells
- gametes with half the usual number of chromosomes
gametes with half the usual number of chromosomes
Hint: Gametes have half the chromosomes so that fertilization restores the full number.
Question 5
What is fertilization?
- When a sperm cell and an egg cell join
- When a seed is planted
- When a cell divides in two
- When a plant makes sugar
When a sperm cell and an egg cell join
Hint: Fertilization combines genetic material from two parents into a new cell.
Question 6
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.
Offspring get a new mix of genes from two parents.
Hint: Variation helps a species survive when conditions change.