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Science · Grade 8

Inheritance, Variation and Biological Change

Learners model how a gene's sequence codes for a protein and how mutations can be harmful, beneficial or neutral. They explain natural selection through variation, inheritance, selection and time, track changing trait frequencies with percentages and graphs, and compare artificial selection with genetic engineering, weighing benefits and concerns and separating scientific questions from questions of values.

  • 5 lessons
  • About 115 minutes
  • Inheritance and change check: 10 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, estimate, highlight a text, match pairs, type a number and put in order
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What learners will discover

  • Explain how a mutation changes the sequence of a gene and may change the protein it codes for, with harmful, beneficial or neutral effects, and identify which mutations can be inherited.
  • Explain natural selection using variation, inheritance, selection and time, and explain how an inherited trait can help individuals survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
  • Use population data, percentages and graphs to show how the frequency of a trait changes over generations, and explain the pattern.
  • Compare artificial selection and genetic engineering as technologies that change inherited traits, and weigh their benefits and concerns using evidence.

Lessons

  1. Genes, proteins and mutations 9 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  2. Natural selection: the mechanism 9 steps5 practiceabout 24 min
  3. Natural selection in the numbers 9 steps6 practiceabout 24 min
  4. Humans as selectors: artificial selection 7 steps4 practiceabout 20 min
  5. Genetic engineering and weighing technologies 6 steps3 practiceabout 23 min
  6. Inheritance and change check 10 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.
  • River MysterySomething changed the river. Sample sites with a limited budget, follow the evidence and find where the change begins.

More 8th grade science

Guide for grown-ups