Traits, Parents and Variation

Lab Brief #4

🎯 Your mission

Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

Offspring resemble their parents because they inherit genetic information from both, but no two siblings are identical. Some variation is inherited, some comes from the environment, and most visible traits are a combination of the two.

Key words

inherited variation
Differences between individuals caused by the genes they received.
environmental variation
Differences caused by surroundings, diet or experience rather than genes.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

notebook
tape measure

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "inherited variation" and "environmental variation" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Survey your class for eye colour, height and whether they can roll their tongue. Classify each trait as mostly inherited, mostly environmental or both, and justify each classification in one sentence.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Height in humans is best described as:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Variation caused by diet rather than genes is:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Reading a Family Tree All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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Traits, Parents and Variation

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