Before Strategy/Engage: 10 minutes
1. The teacher should begin by giving each student a copy of "Parent and Offspring" handout. Students should examine the pictures of the young animals and the adult animals, then draw lines between the matching parent and offspring.
2. The teacher should review students' matches, and ask the students, "How did you know which baby animal (offspring) matched with which parent animal?" The teacher should allow students to describe how they created their matches between the parents and the offspring.
During Strategy/Explore & Explain: 15 minutes
1. The teacher should ask students to focus on the pictures of the golden retrievers and wolves. Ask students, "Do all dogs look the same?"
2. The teacher should record student responses on a T-chart, on the left side labeled "Same" and the right side labeled "Different".
Example: All dogs have four legs, but dogs have different-sized legs.
3. After recording student responses on the T-chart, the teacher should lead a discussion about why all dogs have some similarities but can often look very different. The teacher should lead the students to the understanding that all dogs have some similarities because they are part of the same species, but each dog may look different depending on the traits it inherited from its mother and father.
After Strategy/Explain & Elaborate: 30 minutes
1. The teacher should explain to students they will be creating a new animal that will look similar to its parents, but not exactly the same since it will inherit traits from both.
2. The teacher should give each student a copy of the "Trait Table" handout, "Student Journal" response sheet, and a blank sheet of white paper. The students will examine the trait table and choose a trait for the animal to inherit from either the mom's or dad's side. The student should record their choice on their "Student Journal" and draw that part of the animal on the blank sheet of paper.
For example, the student may choose for its animal to inherit a circular head shape from the mom's side. The student would record their choice on the "Student Journal" response sheet. (The head shape came from the mom animal.) The student would then draw a circular head on the blank sheet of white paper.
Note: The teacher may wish to model an example drawing of an animal using the Trait Table and Student Journal response sheet before allowing students to perform these procedures independently.
3. After students complete their drawing, the teacher should allow students to partner with a classmate. Students should compare their drawing to another student's drawing. The teacher should ask students to discuss the following questions: "Do your animals look exactly the same? Why or why not?"
4. After allowing students several minutes to discuss with their partners, the teacher should bring the whole class back together. The teacher should ask several students to share their partner discussions with the whole group. The teacher should lead the students to the understanding that their animals looked similar to their partners because both animals had the same parents, but their animals did not look exactly the same because each animal inherited different traits from each parent. The teacher can compare this to human siblings looking similar to each other because they have the same parents but oftentimes not exactly the same because each sibling inherited different traits.
