Standards Site

 
 
Your path:  Standards Site Home > Schemes of work > Science at key stage 3 > Inheritance and selection > a. How do differences between offspring with the same parents compare with differences between offspring of different parents?
Schemes of Work
Schemes home Planning Adapting units Combining units     Schemes help QCA
About this unit
Where the unit fits in
Expectations
Prior learning
Health and safety
Language for learning
Resources
Out-of-school learning
All objectives
All activities
All outcomes
Print/download the unit

Science at key stage 3    (Year 9)

Unit 9A: Inheritance and selection
Section 3: a. How do differences between offspring with the same parents compare with differences between offspring of different parents?

QCA

Objectives
Children should learn:
  • to decide which observations and measurements to make
  • to design tables to record data
  • to use spreadsheets to analyse data and draw graphs
  • to draw conclusions about variation within and between varieties

Activities

Outcomes
Children:
  • Show pupils specimens of the same variety of crop, eg tomatoes, garden beans, potatoes, and ask them to investigate variation within the variety. Ask pupils to suggest characteristics that vary, eg mass, length, diameter, and make measurements of a sample, tabulating data and presenting results, eg as a frequency graph.
  • Ask pupils to compare the distribution and spread of results obtained from one variety with those obtained from another variety of the same species, and to decide whether the variation within a variety is greater or less than that between varieties. Point out to pupils that many varieties differ in ways that are not immediately observable, eg resistance to disease, flavour, ripening time, and ask them to think about why these factors might be important in growing crops.
  • make and record appropriate measurements
  • present data in tables and use spreadsheet software to produce appropriate graphs
  • explain how evidence supports conclusions, eg variation between varieties is greater than variation within varieties

Points to note
  • Plants that show observable variation should be used in this work. Food bought in many supermarkets and other outlets is less likely to provide an observable range because it has often been pre-sorted to produce individuals of similar quality, size, etc. Home-grown food is likely to produce the best results.
  • Groups could measure features in a number of specimens, eg 10, and pool results for analysis.
  • Different groups of pupils could investigate the same feature in different varieties of the same species.
  • The data could be saved as a spreadsheet and graphs produced from this.

Sections in this unit

 << previous section next section >>
This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
1. What characteristics can be inherited?
2. Why are offspring of the same parents similar but not identical?
3. a. How do differences between offspring with the same parents compare with differences between offspring of different parents?
4. b. How do differences between offspring with the same parents compare with differences between offspring of different parents?
5. How are new breeds of animal produced?
6. Checking progress
7. Why do farmers produce new breeds of animals?
8. a. How are new varieties of plant produced?
9. b. How are new varieties of plant produced?
10. Are varieties produced by selective breeding different from each other?
11. What is a clone?
12. Reviewing work