Unravel Genetics to Raise the Steaks

HS-LS1-1: 

• Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins, which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells. 

HS-LS1-4: 

• Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.

HS-LS3-1: 

• Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring. 

HS-LS3-3: 

• Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population. 

LS1.A-H2: 

• All cells contain genetic information in the form of DNA molecules. Genes are regions in the DNA that contain the instructions that code for the formation of proteins, which carry out most of the work of cells. 

LS1.B-H1: 

• In multicellular organisms individual cells grow and then divide via a process called mitosis, thereby allowing the organism to grow. The organism begins as a single cell (fertilized egg) that divides successively to produce many cells, with each parent cell passing identical genetic material (two variants of each chromosome pair) to both daughter cells. Cellular division and differentiation produce and maintain a complex organism, composed of systems of tissues and organs that work together to meet the needs of the whole organism.

LS3.A-H1: 

• Each chromosome consists of a single very long DNA molecule, and each gene on the chromosome is a particular segment of that DNA. The instructions for forming species’ characteristics are carried in DNA. All cells in an organism have the same genetic content, but the genes used (expressed) by the cell may be regulated in different ways. Not all DNA codes for a protein; some segments of DNA are involved in regulatory or structural functions, and some have no as-yet known function.

LS3.B-H2:

• Environmental factors also affect expression of traits, and hence affect the probability of occurrences of traits in a population. Thus, the variation and distribution of traits observed depends on both genetic and environmental factors.

LS4.B-H1:

• Natural selection occurs only if there is both (1) variation in the genetic information between organisms in a population and (2) variation in the expression of that genetic information – that is, trait variation – that leads to differences in performance among individuals.

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions:

• Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information:

• Compare, integrate and evaluate sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g. visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a scientific question or solve a problem.

Developing and Using Models

• Develop, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system. 

Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Prediction:

• Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human designed systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the system. 

Patterns:

• Different patterns may be observed at each of the scales at which a system is studied and can provide evidence for causality in explanations of phenomena. 

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity:

• Some systems can only be studied indirectly as they are too small, too large, too fast, or too slow to observe directly.