KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate: Brooke Spence & Cortney Sensenig

Cooperating Teacher:
Group Size: 24

Date: 3/15/16

Coop.Initials
Allotted Time: 45 mins

Subject or Topic: Traits

Grade Level: 4th grade

Section

STANDARD:
3.1.4.B1 Describe features that are observable in both parents and their offspring
3.1.4.B5 Distinguish among observed inheritance patterns caused by several types of genetic
traits (dominant, recessive, codominant, sex-linked, polygenic, incomplete dominance, multiple
alleles)
I.

Performance Objectives

Fourth grade students will be able to interpret the outcomes of dominant and recessive trait allele
combinations by filling out Punnett Squares.
II.

Instructional Materials

Students Materials
Poster-board (6 because there are 6 groups of 4)
Markers
Personal inventories (see attached)
Teacher Materials
Access to smart board
Access to powerpoint presentation
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13NNeg2BSASRf3q5QpvTPyjULpWsdZXc0zG2SD7MOlM/edit#slide=id.g11ffaa7f30_0_75

 Access to chalkboard and chalk

III.

Subject Matter/Content

A. Prerequisite skills
Students should know what DNA and genes are.
Students should know what inheritance means.
Students should know how to describe basic physical characteristics (Ex. blue eyes)
B.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Key Vocabulary

Trait- a quality or characteristic belonging to a person

Dominant Trait- a trait that is more prevalent and will show over a recessive trait
Recessive Trait- trait that is not as prevalent and will show if dominant trait does not overpower
Phenotype- description of the physical characteristics of an individual
Punnett Square- the device used to figure out possible offspring traits of organisms
Allele- forms of a gene
C.

Big Idea

The Outcome of Dominant and Recessive Traits

D. Content
1.
a.
2.
a.
b.
c.
3.
a.
b.
c.

Traits
Physical characteristics that are passed down from your parents
Dominant Trait
The more prevalent trait
This trait will show over recessive traits
Example: Dark hair is a dominant trait and will show over light hair
Recessive Trait
The less prevalent trait
This trait will only show if there is no dominant allele and there are two recessive
Blue eyes are an example of a recessive trait. Brown eyes are dominant so unless there are two

4.
a.
b.
i.
ii.
5.
a.
b.
6.
a.
b.

alleles for blue eyes, then brown eyes will more than likely traits show
Allele
Different forms of a gene
Come in forms of capital and lower-case letters
Dominant-capital letters
Recessive- lower-case letters
Phenotype
The description of the physical characteristics of an individual
What a person looks like
Punnett Squares
A device used to figure out possible offspring traits of two individuals
Uses dominant and recessive traits

c. Four possible outcomes

IV.

Implementation

A. Introduction
1. Have students put their heads down on their desks
2. Without them looking around at their classmates, have students raise their hand while their head
is down and ask the following questions:
a. How many people think that there are more blue eyed students than brown eyed students in our
i.
b.
i.
c.
i.
3.
4.

class?
Record tally marks on the board
How many students think that there are more blonde students than brown haired students?
Record tally marks on the board
How many students think there are more tall students than short students?
Record tally marks on the board
Have students lift their heads and briefly discuss the results
Tell the students that todays lesson will help them understand why it is we look the way we do.

B.
1.
a.
i.
ii.
iii.
2.

Development

Teacher will begin the powerpoint presentation

Talk about Slide 1- What is a trait?
Traits are physical characteristics that are passed down from your parents
Example: Having blue eyes
Define-Phenotype- the description of the physical characteristics of an individual
Ask for volunteers to go up and write different traits up on the board. Get at least ten traits on the

board
3. Teacher will then add any missed traits that students did not put up on the board
4. Teacher will then pass out the Inventory of My Traits chart to every student (see attached)
5. Teacher will instruct students that if they have the trait that it says on each line check yes, if not
check no.
6. As students are filling out their inventory, teacher will walk around and answer any questions
that students may have about what a certain trait is.
7. Once students look like they are finished filling out the inventory, ask them to discuss their
inventories with their table groups of four.
8. After students have discussed their results with each other, ask for one volunteer from each table
group to discuss one thing they found interesting about their tables inventories.
9. After teacher gives feedback to the students findings, teacher will continue with the powerpoint.
10. Teacher will talk about slides 2 and 3
a. Slide 2- What is a Dominant Trait?

i. A trait that is more prevalent

ii. A trait that will show over a recessive trait
iii. Shown with a capital letter
1. Example: B-Brown eyes are dominant
b. Slide 3-What is a Recessive Trait?
i. A trait that is not as prevalent
ii. This trait will only show if there is no dominant trait present
iii. Shown with a lower-case letter
1. Example- b- blue eyes are a recessive trait
11. Teacher will continue with powerpoint presentation
a. Slide 4-Alleles
i. Alleles- different forms of genes, typically there are two
ii. Examples- A parent may have the alleles Bb-the capital b represents the brown eyed gene and the
lower-case represents the blue eyed gene
b. Using the Bb example, ask students if they can guess what color eyes that person would have
c. Explain to the students the different allele combinations
i. BB-two dominant alleles-brown eyes
ii. Bb- one dominant and one recessive-brown eyes
iii. bb- both recessive alleles- blue eyes
12. Talk about the final slide
a. Punnett Squares
i.
Used to figure out the different possible trait outcomes of an offspring
ii.
Go over the pictured diagram explaining how each allele combination results in each of the four
boxes, use fingers to point to where each allele comes from
b. Teacher will then draw an example on the chalkboard and go through how to do a punnett square
i.
ii.

step by step.
Step 1: draw a square and divide it into four
Step 2: write the two allele combinations at the top and side, designating one letter to each box

iii.

(For this example use BB for brown eyes and Bb brown eyes and blue eyed)
Step 3: Go through each box and combine the one allele from the left with the allele on the top

for each of the four boxes

1. Results will be : two BB combinations and two Bb combinations
iv. Explain to the students that from this information the two parents are more than likely going to
have a brown eyed child because all results have a dominant trait in them. The only way to get a
blue-eyed child would be to have a box with bb in it.
13. After teacher goes through the example on the chalkboard, teacher will pass out a giant
poster-board and markers to the table groups of four.
a.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Give each table group a different allele combination for Brown Hair (B) vs. Blonde Hair (b)
One group will have BB and BB
One group will have BB and Bb
One group will have Bb and Bb
One group will have BB and bb
One group will have bb and Bb

vi.

One group will have bb and bb

b. Tell the students to create a punnett square in their table groups using the poster board and
markers with the assigned allele combinations. Be sure to inform students to be prepared to
discuss their results with the whole class.
14. Give students time to work in their groups and interpret the results of their punnett squares.
15. One it looks like everybody is finished call each group up to discuss their results. Since there
are four people in each group, each person can describe one of the four possible allele outcomes
and how they got that.

C.

Closure

1. Pass out a half sheet of paper to each student

2. Instruct students to write down two new things that they learned from todays lesson and one
thing they do not understand.
3. Use that as their ticket to get out of the door.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
1. Johnny has a learning disability that affects his note taking skills; teacher will give him a fill in
the blank note sheet to take notes during the powerpoint.
2. Excelling Students: for students that find Punnett squares to be relatively easy, give them a more
challenging allele combination to work with and have them do it on their own rather than in the
table groups of four.
3. Struggling Students: For students who are struggling to fill in the Punnett squares and not
understanding the results of the outcomes, provide them with pictures of the allele combinations
and guided arrows to show which allele combines with what.
E.

Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative

a. Students will work in their table groups to fill out their own Punnett Square allele combination
and discuss results with the entire class.

2. Summative
End of unit test
V.

Reflective Response

A. Report of Student Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives

B.

Personal Reflection

Did I present the new information in an interesting way? Did it keep students intrigued?
Did students seem to enjoy filling out their personal traits inventory? Did they know what
those traits were?
Were students able to fill out the Punnett Squares? Did it seem too easy or too difficult
for them?

VI. Resources
Teach. Genetics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2016, from
http://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/heredity/#item2
What is Inheritance. (n.d). Retrieved March 15, 2016, from
http://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-inheritance