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Curriculum Materials

Standards Alignment

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS4.B: Natural Selection (MS) 

  • In artificial selection, humans have the capacity to influence certain characteristics of organisms by selective breeding. One can choose desired parental traits determined by genes, which are then passed on to offspring.
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Science & Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence (MS)

  • Make an oral or written argument that supports or refutes the advertised performance of a device, process, or system, based on empirical evidence concerning whether or not the technology meets relevant criteria and constraints.
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Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect (MS)

  • Phenomena may have more than one cause, and some cause-and-effect relationships in systems can only be described using probability.
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In this task, students will write an argument that justifies the selection of a particular bull to be mated with a group of cattle to meet the criteria set forth by the producer. First, students will identify trait heritability and make connections between trait heritability and making cattle produce beef more efficiently. Then, students review basic probability of outcomes for calf traits based on the expected differences from two different bulls. Students are introduced to a concept called Expected Progeny Difference. Next, students are asked to focus on a production trait of growth and make comparisons of the genetic difference between two calves on several economically and environmentally important traits. Last, students justify a decision to select a particular bull to be used in a selective breeding program to get a desired outcome.