Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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ScienceAdaptation, variation and evolution25 min★★ difficulty

Heredity: how information travels between generations

Family resemblance is information transfer. Instructions written in DNA are copied and passed on, which is why offspring resemble their parents without being identical to them.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Biology: genetics and evolution: Understand heredity as the process by which genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand heredity as the process by which genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next

Key learning points

  • • Where the instructions live
  • • Why offspring differ
  • • Inherited or environmental?

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

heredityprocessgeneticinformationtransmitted

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

Heredity: how information travels between generations

An English teaching video on this topic from Cognito. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand heredity as the process by which genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Where the instructions live

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

Where the instructions live

DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell, organised into chromosomes. A gene is a section of DNA coding for a characteristic. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes; one of each pair comes from each parent.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Why offspring differ

Sexual reproduction combines genetic information from two parents, so each offspring receives a new mixture. That is why siblings share features but are not identical, and why variation exists for natural selection to act on.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

What is a gene?

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Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

How many chromosome pairs do humans have?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Inherited or environmental?

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Inherited or environmental?

Eye colour and natural hair colour are inherited. A scar or a learned language is environmental. Many characteristics, such as height, result from both: genes set a range and nutrition determines where within it a person lands.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 16

Quick check

Why are siblings not identical?

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

Which characteristic is purely environmental?

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 16

Worked example

Worked example: sorting characteristics

Blood group — inherited only. Tattoo — environmental only. Body mass — both, because inherited factors influence build while diet and activity influence the outcome. Sorting like this makes it clear that 'inherited' means the information came from a parent, not that the feature cannot change.

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Sexual reproduction combines ____ information from two parents, so each offspring receives a new mixture.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Heredity: how information travels between generations

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What is a gene?

  2. 2. How many chromosome pairs do humans have?

  3. 3. Why are siblings not identical?

  4. 4. Which characteristic is purely environmental?

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

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    Understand heredity as the process by which genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next

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