Students explore the complexity of heredity by studying horses and creating a horse’s family tree. Grades 3-5

Students explore the concept of inherited traits and understand the significance of Gregor Mendel's discoveries related to heredity. Grades 3-5

A fun work of fiction in which a girl competes in a classroom garden competition to see who can get the 'first peas to the table.' Based on the contest that Thomas Jefferson held with his friends and neighbors every year, this book seamlessly integrates school gardens, history, botany, and seasonal weather themes into one fun-to-read book. Teachers may even consider modeling a classroom science project after the one featured in this book. 

Learn about how Gregor Mendel's fascination for genetic traits led him to to become the world's first geneticist. Mendel overcame poverty and discovered one of the fundamental aspects of genetic science. He studied inheritance of animals, plants, and people learning how they pass traits from one generation to another.  This book outlines Mendel's life and his discoveries in an easy to understand format.

This kit is designed to support various forms of homeschool, virtual learning, and online classes by providing ready-to-use supplies to facilitate hands-on learning and discovery. The kit contains materials for one student to complete a variety of activities found in the following lessons: Apple Science: Comparing Apples to Onions (Activity 2); From Chicken Little to Chicken Big (Activity 2); Sheep See, Sheep Do (Activity 1); Peas in a Pod (Activity 2); Inherited Traits in the Living Corn Necklace (Activity 2). Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.

This activity can be used with the lesson, Peas in a Pod (or any lesson on Punnett Squares) and illustrates the results of Gregor Mendel’s experiments with pea plants. Scaffold instruction by first modeling how Punnett squares work and then monitoring students as they create pompom Punnett squares in small groups. This kit contains enough materials for 36 students. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.

This three-minute video does a great job of quickly explaining several key concepts. Cleverly animated peas illustrate the difference between dominant and recessive traits and how these traits can be diagrammed using Punnett squares. The difference between genotype and phenotype is also covered, and the importance of Mendel's discoveries is nicely put into a modern-day context.

The DNA Learning Center (DNALC) is the world's first science center devoted entirely to genetics education and is an operating unit of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an important center for molecular genetics research. The DNALC website provides links to a family of educational Internet sites that cover broad topics, including basic heredity, genetic disorders, eugenics, the discovery of the structure of DNA, DNA sequencing, cancer, and plant genetics.