HOW DOES LIFE PERSIST?
Genetics and Heredity

Our fourth unit of the year (1st of this semester) is all about Genetics.  We will be studying how we actually inherit our traits from our parents - why we look the way we look!!!  There are many different pieces to genetics that we will be learning about.  We will also discuss the tools used in genetics to track characteristics and calculate probability of specific traits/diseases being passed from generation to generation.  As will previous units, there is a TON of vocabulary.  To help, every Friday in this unit you will receive VOCAB homework - this will consist of the words we covered during the week.  These papers will help provide a resource to study, and better understand all of these big new words!!!  OK, here we go!!!  Let's get into genetics!!

Below are our Learning Targets for this unit.  As with other units, these are treated as mastery goals.  All students have the opportunity to retake our learning target quizzes to show mastery of content.  They must come to a review session before they can retake the quiz.  Sessions are held at lunch in my classroom every Tuesday and Thursday.

1. I CAN describe the structure of the DNA molecule, how it is copied and what it is used for.
2. I CAN explain the relationship between DNA, proteins, and the traits of an organism.
3. I CAN describe multiple ways the DNA and chromosomes can be regulated.
4. I CAN describe different types of genetic mutations and use evidence to explain how they occur.
5. I CAN use a model to describe meiosis and the inheritance of traits.