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Mendel’s Experiments: Evidence-Based Introduction to Genetics
Students analyze Mendel’s data to explain dominant and recessive inheritance.
This digital lesson introduces students to Gregor Mendel’s experiments by guiding them through the reasoning that led to modern inheritance theory. Students examine how Mendel tested competing ideas about heredity and how his results supported particulate inheritance rather than blending.
Students begin by exploring analogies for inheritance (“paint” versus “cards”) and using real-life trait examples to predict how traits might be passed from parents to offspring. This establishes a conceptual framework before formal genetics language is introduced.
Students then analyze Mendel’s work step by step:
modeling how controlled crosses were performed using hermaphroditic flowers
examining Mendel’s first pea plant experiment and comparing predicted outcomes to actual results
analyzing the 3:1 phenotypic ratio from Mendel’s second experiment
completing a Claim–Evidence–Reasoning (CER) explanation of what Mendel’s data showed
Support slides are available for students who need additional scaffolding.
Students extend their understanding by:
connecting Mendel’s results to chromosome behavior during meiosis
linking Mendel’s conclusions to the Law of Independent Assortment
examining examples of simple human traits that follow Mendelian inheritance
Throughout the lesson, students are required to:
compare competing explanations
use data to revise their thinking
explain inheritance using evidence rather than rules alone
This lesson is designed to support:
understanding of Mendel’s experimental logic
interpretation of inheritance ratios
connection between meiosis and genetic patterns
development of evidence-based explanations
It functions well as:
an introductory inheritance lesson
a conceptual bridge into Punnett squares
or a foundation for later work on probability and trait prediction
Grade & Course Recommendation:
Middle School:Grade 8 Life Science, as an introduction to heredity and probability.
High School:Grades 9–10 Biology, classical genetics and heredity unit.
To preview this lesson, click here.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
Math Integration: Students calculate ratios and probabilities from Punnett squares.
ELA Integration: Writing reflections on scientific reasoning and historical context.
History of Science Integration: Exploration of Mendel’s experimental methods and significance.
Daily slide + literacy - based exit ticket included with purchase
Join the Lesson Laboratory and Teach for Tomorrow!
NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Middle School NGSS Alignment
MS-LS3-1: Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
Connection: Students discuss how variations in inherited traits occur because of changes in genetic information.MS-LS3-2: Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in identical genetic information, while sexual reproduction results in variation.
Connection: Mendel’s experiments are used to show how sexual reproduction creates trait combinations leading to diversity.MS-LS4-2: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
High School NGSS Alignment
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 connect Mendel’s observations to modern genetics, understanding that alleles represent different forms of genetic instructions.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 caused by environmental factors.
Connection: The lesson helps students recognize how segregation and independent assortment contribute to variation, laying groundwork for later discussions of meiosis and genetic recombination.HS-LS3-3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.
Connection: Students use Mendel’s ratios (3:1, 1:2:1) as evidence that inheritance follows predictable mathematical patterns.
Science & Engineering Practices:
Asking questions and defining problems
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Analyzing and interpreting data
Crosscutting Concepts:
Cause and effect
Patterns
Structure and function
Systems and system models
Common Core Standards
Grades 9–10 / Middle School (6–8):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 / RST.6-8.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a scientific text and summarize complex information (Mendel’s data and conclusions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.3 / RST.6-8.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure in a scientific experiment (Mendel’s cross-pollination process).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7 / RST.6-8.7: Translate quantitative or visual data into written explanations (using trait ratio charts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1 / WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments supported by evidence (CER or short response explaining Mendel’s discoveries).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2 / WHST.6-8.2: Write informative texts that explain complex processes (genetic inheritance).
Students analyze Mendel’s data to explain dominant and recessive inheritance.
This digital lesson introduces students to Gregor Mendel’s experiments by guiding them through the reasoning that led to modern inheritance theory. Students examine how Mendel tested competing ideas about heredity and how his results supported particulate inheritance rather than blending.
Students begin by exploring analogies for inheritance (“paint” versus “cards”) and using real-life trait examples to predict how traits might be passed from parents to offspring. This establishes a conceptual framework before formal genetics language is introduced.
Students then analyze Mendel’s work step by step:
modeling how controlled crosses were performed using hermaphroditic flowers
examining Mendel’s first pea plant experiment and comparing predicted outcomes to actual results
analyzing the 3:1 phenotypic ratio from Mendel’s second experiment
completing a Claim–Evidence–Reasoning (CER) explanation of what Mendel’s data showed
Support slides are available for students who need additional scaffolding.
Students extend their understanding by:
connecting Mendel’s results to chromosome behavior during meiosis
linking Mendel’s conclusions to the Law of Independent Assortment
examining examples of simple human traits that follow Mendelian inheritance
Throughout the lesson, students are required to:
compare competing explanations
use data to revise their thinking
explain inheritance using evidence rather than rules alone
This lesson is designed to support:
understanding of Mendel’s experimental logic
interpretation of inheritance ratios
connection between meiosis and genetic patterns
development of evidence-based explanations
It functions well as:
an introductory inheritance lesson
a conceptual bridge into Punnett squares
or a foundation for later work on probability and trait prediction
Grade & Course Recommendation:
Middle School:Grade 8 Life Science, as an introduction to heredity and probability.
High School:Grades 9–10 Biology, classical genetics and heredity unit.
To preview this lesson, click here.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
Math Integration: Students calculate ratios and probabilities from Punnett squares.
ELA Integration: Writing reflections on scientific reasoning and historical context.
History of Science Integration: Exploration of Mendel’s experimental methods and significance.
Daily slide + literacy - based exit ticket included with purchase
Join the Lesson Laboratory and Teach for Tomorrow!
NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Middle School NGSS Alignment
MS-LS3-1: Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.
Connection: Students discuss how variations in inherited traits occur because of changes in genetic information.MS-LS3-2: Develop and use a model to describe why asexual reproduction results in identical genetic information, while sexual reproduction results in variation.
Connection: Mendel’s experiments are used to show how sexual reproduction creates trait combinations leading to diversity.MS-LS4-2: Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
High School NGSS Alignment
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 connect Mendel’s observations to modern genetics, understanding that alleles represent different forms of genetic instructions.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 caused by environmental factors.
Connection: The lesson helps students recognize how segregation and independent assortment contribute to variation, laying groundwork for later discussions of meiosis and genetic recombination.HS-LS3-3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.
Connection: Students use Mendel’s ratios (3:1, 1:2:1) as evidence that inheritance follows predictable mathematical patterns.
Science & Engineering Practices:
Asking questions and defining problems
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Analyzing and interpreting data
Crosscutting Concepts:
Cause and effect
Patterns
Structure and function
Systems and system models
Common Core Standards
Grades 9–10 / Middle School (6–8):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 / RST.6-8.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a scientific text and summarize complex information (Mendel’s data and conclusions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.3 / RST.6-8.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure in a scientific experiment (Mendel’s cross-pollination process).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7 / RST.6-8.7: Translate quantitative or visual data into written explanations (using trait ratio charts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1 / WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments supported by evidence (CER or short response explaining Mendel’s discoveries).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2 / WHST.6-8.2: Write informative texts that explain complex processes (genetic inheritance).