Lesson 52 of 84 · Heredity
Experiment⭐ 30 XPSelective Breeding (Part 3)
Selective Breeding (Part 3).
🎯 Your mission
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
⚡ The twist
Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.
Mind = Blown
🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.
Make a hypothesis first
Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.
What You'll Learn
Selective breeding is when humans choose organisms with desired traits to reproduce. Dog breeds, crop varieties, and livestock have been developed through thousands of years of selective breeding.
Key Words
- natural selection
- adaptation
- fossil record
Materials Needed
- colored pencils
- coins (for Punnett squares)
- tape
- index cards
Safety First
- Handle glass items carefully to avoid breakage.
- Do not mix unknown chemicals together.
Steps
Review the background information on Heredity before starting.
Create a Punnett square to predict the offspring of two parents. Use a trait like eye color or seed shape. Calculate the probability of each outcome.
Note any unexpected results and think about why they happened.
Share your findings with the class or a partner and discuss what you learned.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3What is a mutation?
Where you see this in real life
This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life 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?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
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