Embark on a Genetic Exploration with this Digital Fruit Fly Lab!

🪰 Unraveling Inheritance Patterns: This seamlessly crafted lab empowers students to investigate the inheritance pattern of a fruit fly trait through genetic crosses, employing an intuitive online simulator. Tailored for student-directed differentiation, it offers a dynamic learning experience.

🧬 Step-by-Step Learning Journey:

Background Reading and Questions: Students dive into the lab by completing a background reading, followed by thought-provoking questions that set the stage for their genetic exploration.

Student-Driven Differentiation: Empowering students with choice, they embark on a journey based on their preferred difficulty level. Like selecting ski trails, they opt for a beginner (green circle), intermediate (blue square), or expert (black diamond) trait category. This choice leads them to a selection of intriguing traits, allowing them to choose the one that sparks their curiosity.

Pre-Lab Planning: Students proactively plan their approach by outlining the questions they aim to address and designing the crosses that will aid in their investigation.

Virtual Crosses with Online Simulator: Using the online simulator, students perform test crosses on fruit flies. They meticulously record their results in the provided lab notebook, ensuring a comprehensive exploration.

Guided Lab Report Writing: To facilitate their lab report, students receive a scaffolded framework with pre-established headings and supportive suggestions (indicated in purple). This helps them initiate their report, and they can easily modify or remove the prompts as needed.

🔍 Why Choose This Lab?

🪰 Engaging Simulation: Students interact with a virtual fruit fly simulator, bringing genetics to life in a captivating manner.

📚 Student-Centered Differentiation: Tailored difficulty levels empower students to choose a trait that aligns with their interests and comprehension level.

📝 Scaffolded Lab Report: The provided structure and prompts support students in crafting a comprehensive lab report.

🚀 Seamless Integration: Designed on Google Slides, it ensures easy access and compatibility for both educators and students.

👩‍🔬 Ignite Genetic Curiosity: Equip your students with invaluable knowledge about inheritance patterns. Download this digital lab now and watch their scientific understanding flourish!

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-Zr3y3gyCVTHIo8RjKQJmDkstzbx2cLAgCVdVd4Xpx0/edit?usp=sharing

Grade & Course Recommendation:

• Middle School: Enrichment lab for Grade 8 honors life science.

• High School: Grade 9–10 Biology, hands-on genetics or inheritance investigation.

Cross-Curricular Connections:

• Math Integration: Statistical analysis and probability through Punnett ratios.

• Technology Integration: Potential use of digital fly simulation software.

• ELA Integration: Students compose written lab analyses using evidence-based reasoning.

Join the Lesson Laboratory and Teach for Tomorrow!

NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)

• HS-LS3-1: Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.
  Connection: Students use simulated crosses to explore how specific mutations are inherited.

• HS-LS3-2: Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from new genetic combinations through meiosis, errors during replication, and/or mutations.
  Connection: Students analyze simulation data to determine inheritance patterns and defend their conclusions.

• HS-LS3-3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.
  Connection: Students use offspring ratios and Punnett squares to calculate probabilities and interpret inheritance outcomes.

• Science and Engineering Practices: Analyzing and interpreting data; Constructing explanations; Engaging in argument from evidence.

• Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and effect; Patterns; Systems and system models.

Common Core Standards 

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1 / RST.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of scientific information. (connection: supporting inheritance claims with data from the simulation)

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.3 / RST.11-12.3: Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments or simulations.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7 / RST.11-12.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words with visual data (Punnett squares, offspring ratios).

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2 / WHST.11-12.2: Write informative/explanatory texts, including scientific analyses and conclusions.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.8 / WHST.11-12.8: Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively. (connection: using research sources for background and works cited sections)

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9 / WHST.11-12.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.