DNA Model, Trait Building, and Genetic Mutations l DNA coloring

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Are you looking for engaging strategies to teach your middle school science students about genetic mutations?

Do you want to provide your students with accessible activities that model how traits are built?

The Genetic Mutations Unit includes 3 fully prepared lessons with activities, projects, teacher presentations, and more to help your students discover how traits are made from DNA and what happens when an error occurs in the DNA code.

The unit includes the following:

• Trait Building Modeling Activity (with and without errors)
• 3 reading passages – PDF and digital formats
• 1 Graphic note-taking page
• 2 foldable note-taking booklets
• 3 teacher presentations – PowerPoint and Google Slides
• Genetic Mutation Unit Project

In Lesson 1 DNA, Traits, and Proteins students investigate the question “How are Traits Build from DNA Instructions?” The lesson begins with a trait building activity. Students are given a kit containing instructions and small shapes. Working with partners or groups, students follow the instructions to create a final product then share their creation with others and discuss why products might look different amongst different groups.

Students investigate the process a cell goes through to create traits in the DNA, Traits, and Proteins reading passage and teacher presentation. The reading passage is available as a printable PDF and a digital link you can share with your middle school students, saving on copies and paper! The presentation is available as a PowerPoint and Google Slides. Students will complete a graphic note page as the read and/or follow the presentation. The graphic note page is a perfect addition to a science student’s interactive notebook.

Students finish this lesson by repeating the modeling activity, this time focusing specifically on the ways each part models an event or part of the cell.

In Lesson 2 Errors in the Genetic Material students ask “What Happens When There is an Error on a Gene?” Students repeat the trait modeling activity a 3rd time, only this time there is an error in the directions. Students are asked to ponder why their final product came of different even though they have the same materials.

Your middle school science students will learn more about the different ways errors can occur within genes in the Errors in the Genetic Material reading passage and teacher presentation. The reading passage is available as a printable PDF and a digital link you can share with your middle school students, saving on copies and paper! The presentation is available as a PowerPoint and Google Slides. A note-taking foldable accompanies the reading passage and teacher presentation, perfect for adding to an interactive notebook.

In Lesson 3 Genetic Mutations in Individuals and Populations question “Are Mutations a Bad Thing?” Students are introduced to a fictional species. After learning about the species traits and habitats, students create an individual of the species by modeling how DNA instructs the building of proteins in the cell, leading to traits. The individual created has a mutation and students are asked to consider how the mutation might affect the it. Your science students will dive deep into this question in the “Are Mutations a Bad Thing?” reading passage and teacher presentation. The reading passage is available as a printable PDF and a digital link you can share with your middle school students, saving on copies and paper! The presentation is available as a PowerPoint and Google Slides. A note-taking foldable accompanies this reading passage and teacher presentation as well.

In the final activity, your middle school science students get to create a second individual from the fictional species with a mutation of their own! Students decide on a mutation, determine if it is beneficial, harmful, or neutral, and model the formation of the mutation from DNA to protein to trait!

All reading passages are available as printable PDFs and digitally through Google drive.

All teacher presentations are available in PowerPoint and Google Slides formats.

The full unit covers 2 weeks and is fully paced out to make implementation in your science classroom as easy as possible!

Also included are the Teacher Tip Pages, providing you with lots of support, tips, and ideas, so that you can easily implement this heredity and genetics lesson into your science classroom!

Be sure to check the preview to see all that’s included and how you can use it in your classroom as you prepare your middle school science students to discover the world of genetics!

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