Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. How are you similar to your parents?
Eye color and height.
How are you different?
My hair and my skin.
2. A trait is a characteristic. Think about your physical traits (eye color, skin tone, height, hair,face,
allergies, etc.) What traits do you think you inherited, or received, from your parents?
I think I received eye color, freckles, height, pollen allergies, and double joints.
Gizmo Warm-up
In the Inheritance Gizmo™ you can create and breed aliens on an
imaginary planet. Select Asexual reproduction. During asexual
reproduction, a single parent produces offspring (children).
1. Click Create alien and create your own alien. Describe its traitsin the
Parent row of the table:
Alien Body type Skin Color Antenna shape Tattoo
Parent Thick Blue Curly none
Offspring Thin Blue Curly none
2. Drag the parent over to the Parent 1 space and press Reproduce. Fill in the Offspring
traits on the table above. What traits appear to be inherited from the parent?Blue
color, curly antenna, and no tattoo.
Because this offspring inherits its traits from one parent, it is called a clone.
, Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
• Select Sexual reproduction.
Inherited traits
• Drop all remaining aliens (if any) in the Exit hole.
Question: Are all parental traits inherited by offspring?
1. Observe: In sexual reproduction, two parents pass traits to the offspring. Create and breeda variety
of aliens. Record your observations on a separate sheet of paper.
2. Form a hypothesis: Which traits do you think are passed down from alien parents to their offspring,
and which traits are not? Explain. I think skin color, tattoo, and antenna shape arepassed down
because that’s what happened in asexual reproduction.
3. Experiment: Set the Food supply to 2 bushes. Create two identical parents with thick bodies, green
skin, curly antennas, and triangle tattoos. Make two offspring and record theirtraits in the table
below.
Offspring Body type Skin Color Antenna shape Tattoo
Offspring 1 medium Green Curly none
Offspring 2 Medium Green Curly none
4. Analyze: Compare the offspring traits to the parent traits.
A. Which traits were passed from parents to offspring? Skin color and antenna shape.
B. Which traits were not passed down? Body and tattoo
Traits that are not passed down (not inherited) are called acquired traits.
5. Investigate further: Create offspring with a few different levels of Food supply. How doesfood
supply affect the body type of offspring?
It doesn’t affect it at all.
6. Think and discuss: Suppose a human child had a mother with dyed-pink hair and a father who was
missing a finger (lost in an accident). Would the child inherit these traits? Explain.
No because they acquired these traits during their life, they’re not genetic.
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