What is Covered
The five lessons in this curriculum are: Dare to Be Different (organisms, genetic diversity); Language of Life (genomes, genetic code); DNA for Dinner (genes, DNA, reproduction); Building Blocks to Organisms (amino acids, proteins, enzymes); and From Bread to Biotech (classical breeding, genetic engineering, restriction enzymes). Each lesson has background, discussion questions, math puzzles, and three to five activities to demonstrate key points of the lesson.
4-H SET Standards
All five lessons address discovery-based research and scientific method. National Science Education Standards in Life Sciences Grades 5-8, Content Standard C .
LESSON 1: Reproduction and heredity; Diversity and adaptation of organisms. SET Process Skills Used: Categorize/order/classify; observe; compare/contrast/hypothesize; organize/order/classify.
LESSON 2: Structure and function in living systems. SET Process Skills Used: Build/construct; design solutions; use numbers; problem solve; interpret/analyze/reason.
LESSON 3: Structure and function in living organisms; heredity. SET Process Skills Used: Interpret/analyze/reason; use numbers; observe; use tools.
LESSON 4: Structure and function in living organisms; regulation and behavior. SET Process Skills Used:Interpret/analyze/reason/observe; predict; problem solve/question.
LESSON 5: Reproduction and heredity; structure and function in living systems. SET Process Skills Used: Hypothesize; interpret/analyze/reason; use numbers; use tools.
