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Traits and Characteristics of Living Things

Lesson Plan

Traits and Characteristics of Living Things

Objectives

In this lesson, students will learn to distinguish between inherited and acquired traits. Students will:

  • differentiate between inherited and acquired traits in white-tailed deer.
  • explain how inherited traits and certain behaviors can help organisms survive and reproduce in different environments.

Essential Questions

Vocabulary

  • Acquired Trait: A trait that an organism develops from experience or observing other organisms. An example is larger muscle size from exercise or from avoiding predators.
  • Adaptation: Inherited trait that increases an organism’s chances for survival.
  • Behavior: How an organism responds to its environment.
  • Characteristic: A feature or trait that is inherited by an organism from its parents.
  • Gene: Determines the characteristics that organisms inherit from their parents.
  • Inherited Trait: A trait that is passed down from parents to the next generation by genes. An example is human eye color.

Duration

45 minutes/1 class period

Prerequisite Skills

Prerequisite Skills haven't been entered into the lesson plan.

Materials

  • White-tailed Deer Biology and Adaptations: A General Overview

http://sfr.psu.edu/youth/sftrc/deer/wtd-lesson1

Related Unit and Lesson Plans

Related Materials & Resources

The possible inclusion of commercial websites below is not an implied endorsement of their products, which are not free, and are not required for this lesson plan.

  • Habitat Adaptations of Some Common Trees of Pennsylvania

www.envirothonpa.org/documents/HabitatAdaptations.pdf

  • Peregrine Falcons (a lesson plan on how peregrine falcons have adapted to urban areas in Pennsylvania, including a class activity to show the effects of DDT on organisms in a food chain)

www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/images/FS2565.pdf

  • Adaptations to a Temperate Deciduous Forest Biome

www.vtaide.com/png/temperateBiomes.htm

  • Forest Adaptations (image with four animals’ adaptations)

www.eduplace.com/science/hmsc/ga/content/etransparencies/3/fscommand/3_972944_13.pdf

  • Hey, Where Did You Get That From?

http://utahscience.oremjr.alpine.k12.ut.us/sciber01/7th/cells/html/inhvsacq.htm

Formative Assessment

  • View
    • Assess students’ understanding as they give examples of inherited and acquired traits in dogs and humans.
    • Collect and check the Inherited and Acquired Traits worksheet.

Suggested Instructional Supports

  • View
    W: In this lesson, students watch a PowerPoint presentation on adaptations in white-tailed deer and classify the adaptations as inherited traits or acquired traits.
    H: The lesson begins by engaging students in sharing their personal experiences with white-tailed deer.
    E: The lesson includes a class discussion, explicit instruction, a PowerPoint presentation, and independent work on a worksheet.
    R: At the end of the lesson, students rethink how inherited traits and behaviors can help organisms survive, as they describe adaptations in one other animal and a plant.
    E: Students express their understanding on the worksheet and the exit slip.
    T: This lesson can be tailored by completing the first few questions on the worksheet together as a class and providing more examples of inherited and acquired traits in other organisms.
    O: This lesson is arranged to begin by catching students’ interest in a familiar animal, providing them with definitions and examples, and then having students apply their understanding to identify adaptations in organisms.

Instructional Procedures

  • View

    Tell students you are thinking of an animal that lives in Pennsylvania, and you will provide clues. When they think they know what the animal is, they should raise their hand, but not call out its name.

    Clues:

    • It lives in the forest and in fields.
    • It can run up to 40 miles per hour.
    • It eats leaves, buds, and twigs.
    • Its babies have spots to camouflage them on the forest floor.
    • When startled, it raises its tail as a warning signal.
    • The males grow antlers.
    • It is the Pennsylvania state mammal.

    Ask students if they can name the animal you are thinking of. (It is the white-tailed deer.) Have students share personal observations of white-tailed deer.

    Define acquired traits and inherited traits and have students identify examples of each in humans and white-tailed deer. List the examples on the board.

    White-Tailed Deer PowerPoint Presentation

    Show students the White-Tailed Deer Biology and Adaptations PowerPoint presentation (S-5-5-3_White-Tailed-Deer PPT.ppt). If you do not have access to a document projector, please make student copies of the White-Tailed Deer Biology and Adaptations PDF (S-5-5-3_White-Tailed-Deer PDF.pdf). Before you begin, tell students to look and listen for examples of acquired and inherited traits in white-tailed deer. After the presentation, have students help you add to the list of acquired and inherited traits on the board.

    Have students complete the Inherited and Acquired Traits worksheet (S-5-5-3_Inherited and Acquired Traits and KEY.docx).

    Have students complete an exit slip (or assign it as homework) to answer the questions:

    1.      Name one plant that grows in a Pennsylvania forest and describe two adaptations that help it survive.

    2.      Name one animal that lives in a Pennsylvania forest and list one inherited trait and one behavior that help it survive.

    Extension:

    • If possible, take students for a walk in the woods. Have them look for evidence of white-tailed deer, and have them search for foods that they think the deer would eat. Have students describe various inherited and acquired traits (behaviors) that help organisms in the forest survive and reproduce.
    • Students who may need opportunities for additional learning can work on Part 1 of the worksheet during the PowerPoint presentation. Go over the answers afterward as a class and clear up any misconceptions.
    • Challenge students who are performing above and beyond the standards to identify an animal that is a predator of white-tailed deer and describe adaptations that allow it to successfully capture the deer.

Related Instructional Videos

Note: Video playback may not work on all devices.
Instructional videos haven't been assigned to the lesson plan.
DRAFT 05/04/2011
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