MS-LS4-5: Technologies That Change How Humans Shape Inherited Traits
In plain English: MS-LS4-5 is the NGSS middle school performance expectation that asks students to gather and synthesize information from reliable sources about technologies, such as selective breeding, genetic modification and gene therapy, that changed how humans influence the inheritance of desired traits. Students also weigh the impacts on society. It is usually taught in grade 7 or 8 life science.
Gather and synthesize information about technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy); and, on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries.
Next Generation Science Standards · Disciplinary Core Idea: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity · Official standard
Students gather information from several sources, judge how reliable each source is, and synthesize it (combine it into one clear explanation) about technologies that people use to influence which traits organisms inherit. The lesson moves from the oldest technology, selective breeding of plants and animals (also called artificial selection), through animal husbandry tools such as artificial insemination, to genetic modification and gene therapy. For each technology students ask what it changes, whether offspring inherit the change, which earlier discoveries made it possible, and what its benefits and concerns are for society. Real examples include the cabbage family, corn, dairy cattle, Bt crops, rainbow papaya and two approved gene therapies. Numbers labeled invented are made up for teaching; dates and facts about real technologies are given as they are reported by scientific and government sources.
The NGSS Clarification Statement says: "Emphasis is on synthesizing information from reliable sources about the influence of humans on genetic outcomes in artificial selection (such as genetic modification, animal husbandry, gene therapy); and, on the impacts these technologies have on society as well as the technologies leading to these scientific discoveries." MS-LS4-5 has no official Assessment Boundary. The lesson treats genetic modification and gene technologies in a balanced, evidence-based way: students list benefits and concerns side by side and separate what evidence shows from what people value. Students do the practice of obtaining, evaluating and communicating information: they rate sources, fill a synthesis matrix and write a synthesized explanation.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Describe how selective breeding, animal husbandry tools, genetic modification and gene therapy each influence inherited traits
Judge the reliability of a source by its author, evidence, date and purpose
Synthesize information from several sources into one explanation, noting agreements and disagreements
Explain which earlier discoveries made each technology possible and weigh its benefits and concerns for society
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Plants and animals inherit traits from their parents, and traits vary in a group 3-LS3-1
Genes are carried on chromosomes, and changes to genes can change traits MS-LS3-1
Gathering information from several sources and judging their credibility WHST.6-8.8
Finding percents and comparing quantities with ratios 6.RP.A.3
Put a head of broccoli, a head of cabbage and a bunch of kale on the front table. Tell students that all three belong to one species.
Warm-Up Prompt
"How could one kind of plant turn into vegetables that look this different? Who or what made it happen, and how long do you think it took?"
Collect ideas on the board. Many students guess "scientists changed the genes in a lab". Keep that idea: by the end of the lesson students will know that farmers did it by choosing which plants produced seeds, long before anyone knew about genes.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Key words. A trait is a feature of an organism, and an inherited trait is passed from parents to offspring. Genes are sections of DNA, the material in cells that carries the instructions for traits. Artificial selection, or selective breeding, means people choose which plants or animals with a desired trait get to reproduce, generation after generation. Animal husbandry is the raising and breeding of farm animals. Genetic modification (also called genetic engineering) changes an organism's genes directly in a laboratory, for example by adding a gene from another species; the result is a genetically modified organism, or GMO. Gene therapy treats a disease by adding, replacing or editing a gene in a patient's cells.
Gathering and synthesizing. A reliable source names who wrote it and what their expertise is, shows evidence, is up to date and is not mainly trying to sell something. To synthesize means to combine information from several sources into one explanation, noting where they agree and disagree.
Artificial selection: one wild plant, six vegetables
Wild cabbage grows on sea cliffs in western Europe. Over many centuries, farmers kept seeds from plants with the biggest leaves, the tightest end buds, the most side buds, the largest flower clusters or the thickest stems. Kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi all came from it and are still one species (Diagram 1).
Result: Synthesis: one species + variation in traits + people choosing the parents for many generations = six very different vegetables. No genes were changed in a lab; farmers worked with variation the plants already had.
Artificial selection over thousands of years: corn from teosinte
Corn (maize) was bred from a wild grass called teosinte in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. A teosinte ear holds roughly 5 to 12 hard-cased kernels; a modern corn ear often holds 500 to 1,000 soft kernels. Corn is planted once a year, so one year is about one generation.
Result: Using about 10 and about 800 kernels: 800 ÷ 10 = 80, so a modern ear holds about 80 times as many kernels. About 9,000 years at one generation a year is about 9,000 generations of choosing seed.
Animal husbandry: artificial insemination in dairy cattle
Artificial insemination (placing a bull's sperm into a cow with a tool instead of natural mating) became common in dairy farming in the mid-1900s, after methods to freeze sperm were developed. In this invented but realistic case, one collection from a bull fills 400 doses, the bull is collected twice a week for 50 weeks, and by natural mating he might father about 50 calves a year.
Result: 400 × 2 × 50 = 40,000 doses a year, and 40,000 ÷ 50 = 800 times as many possible calves. Benefit: traits such as high milk yield spread fast. Concern: if a few popular bulls father most calves, the breed loses genetic variation.
Genetic modification: Bt corn and cotton
Scientists added a gene from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), to corn and cotton. The gene makes a protein that kills certain caterpillar pests but does not harm people. Bt crops were first planted widely in the United States in 1996. In an invented county survey, corn farmers sprayed insecticide (a chemical that kills insects) for corn borers 2.0 times a season on average before Bt corn and 0.4 times after.
Result: 2.0 - 0.4 = 1.6 fewer sprays, and 1.6 ÷ 2.0 = 0.8, so 80% fewer sprays in this invented county. Concern from real fields: some pests, such as the western corn rootworm, have evolved resistance, so farmers are required to plant "refuge" areas of non-Bt corn to slow it.
Gene therapy: changing a patient's cells, not the children's
In 2017 the United States approved Luxturna, a gene therapy for people who inherited two faulty copies of a gene called RPE65, one from each parent, and slowly lose their vision. Doctors inject a harmless virus carrying working copies of the gene under the retina. Only cells in the eye receive the new gene.
Result: The patient's vision can improve, but eggs and sperm are not changed, so children can still inherit the faulty gene. 2017 - 1953 = 64 years after the DNA double helix was described, the knowledge of DNA had become a medical treatment.
After each example, students add a row to a synthesis matrix with the columns: technology, trait changed, how it works, do offspring inherit it, earlier discoveries it needed, benefit, concern. Show Diagram 2 to place the technologies in time, and point out how much faster the newer technologies work than selective breeding.
Guided Practice10-15 minutes
Pairs read three short source cards about rainbow papaya, written for this page from reported facts (Card B is an invented farm), and synthesize them.
Card A, history. In the 1990s, papaya ringspot virus spread through the papaya farms of the Puna district on the island of Hawaiʻi, where most of the state's papayas grew. Plant scientists added a gene from the virus to papaya, which made the trees resistant, and seeds of the new "rainbow" papaya were given to farmers in 1998.
Card B, one farm (invented numbers). The farm harvested 60 tonnes of papaya in 1992, 15 tonnes in 1997 after the virus spread, and 50 tonnes in 2001 after replanting with rainbow papaya.
Card C, concerns. Japan, a major buyer of Hawaiian papaya, did not approve the genetically modified fruit until 2011, so some growers lost sales for years. Some organic growers worry that pollen from modified trees could reach their trees.
Which card is a source of numbers and which are sources of history and concerns? What would you want to know about who wrote each one?
Using Card B, find the percent drop from 1992 to 1997 and the percent of the 1992 harvest the farm reached in 2001.
Fill one row of the synthesis matrix for rainbow papaya.
Write two sentences that synthesize all three cards: one about the benefit and one about a concern, naming the cards you used.
Independent Practice10-15 minutes
Each student reads three cards about gene technologies in medicine and writes a synthesized paragraph that answers: "How do these technologies change inherited traits, and do the changes pass to the next generation?"
Card 1. Sickle cell disease is inherited. Red blood cells bend into a curved shape, block small blood vessels and cause severe pain. In late 2023 the United Kingdom and then the United States approved the first therapy made with CRISPR, a gene-editing tool described in 2012. Doctors remove some of a patient's blood-forming stem cells, edit them so they make a kind of hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein) normally made before birth, and return them. The patient first needs strong chemotherapy (medicine that destroys the old blood-forming cells), and the treatment costs more than $2 million.
Card 2. Gene therapies like this change body cells. Eggs and sperm are not changed, so a treated patient can still pass the disease gene to children.
Card 3. Editing an embryo would change every cell, including eggs or sperm, so the change would be inherited. In 2018 a researcher in China announced babies born from edited embryos. Scientists around the world condemned it, and he was sentenced to prison. Many countries do not allow edited embryos to be used to start a pregnancy.
Students must use all three cards, include one benefit and one concern, and end with a sentence comparing gene therapy with selective breeding in terms of what the next generation inherits.
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: "Name one technology from today. Write one sentence on how it changes inherited traits, one on a benefit, one on a concern, and name one kind of source you would trust to learn more." Teacher note: GMOs and gene therapy can bring strong feelings and family or cultural values into the room. Keep the discussion on evidence, let students state values as values ("I think..."), and never ask students to share their own or relatives' health conditions.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a partly filled synthesis matrix with the "technology" and "trait changed" columns done
Provide a reliability checklist with four yes-or-no questions: Who wrote it? Is there evidence? Is it recent? Is it selling something?
Provide the frame: "Source ___ and source ___ agree that ___. Source ___ adds that ___."
For Advanced Students
Ask students to find one place where two reliable sources disagree and explain why (different dates, places or questions)
Have students trace one technology back through Diagram 2 and explain how each earlier discovery made the next step possible
Ask students to write a short, balanced brief on a gene technology for a town council, keeping evidence and values in separate paragraphs
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Check that students can say how each technology changes traits and whether the change is inherited: selective breeding and genetic modification of crops change what offspring inherit, but most gene therapy changes only the patient. Look for synthesis that uses more than one source and names them, and for reliability judgments based on author, evidence, date and purpose rather than on whether the student agrees. Listen for one-sided claims, such as "GMOs are poison" or "GMOs have no downsides", and ask for the evidence.
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Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
One Species, Six Vegetables: A Cabbage Family Lab
20 minutesGroups of 4, rotating through 6 stations
Six stations hold kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi. Groups observe each vegetable, identify the plant part that farmers enlarged by selective breeding, and connect what they see to a reading about wild cabbage.
Procedure
At each station, look at the vegetable with a hand lens. Find leaves, buds, stems and flower parts. The teacher may cut a cabbage and a Brussels sprout in half with a plastic knife so students can see the packed leaves inside a bud.
Sketch the vegetable and label the part that is much larger than in wild cabbage.
After all six stations, read the station card: wild cabbage is a leafy plant of sea cliffs with small buds, thin stems and small yellow flowers.
Safety: do not eat the vegetables in the lab, wash hands after the stations, and tell the teacher about any food allergies before the lab.
Discussion Questions
For which two vegetables did farmers select flower parts? For which one did they select a stem?
Cabbage and Brussels sprouts both come from buds. How are the buds different?
Farmers did not know about genes. What did they need to see in the plants for selective breeding to work?
Modification for Remote Classes
Use photos of the six vegetables, or ask students to find two of them at home or in a grocery store and sketch them.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can spread diseases such as dengue and Zika. Only female mosquitoes bite. A company has released male mosquitoes that carry an added gene that makes their female offspring die before they become adults; releases began in the Florida Keys in 2021 after approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Groups rate 6 source cards, written for this activity, and synthesize the reliable ones.
The Six Source Cards (invented for this activity)
Card 1: A public health agency web page, updated this year, that explains how the released males work and lists the agency's review steps.
Card 2: The company's advertisement: "Our mosquitoes will end disease forever!"
Card 3: A news article that quotes two university insect scientists, one hopeful and one worried about effects that are hard to predict.
Card 4: An anonymous social media post: "They are releasing mosquitoes that make people sick."
Card 5: A science museum article for students that explains why only females bite.
Card 6: A town meeting summary in which residents ask for more say in whether releases happen near their homes.
Procedure
Rate each card 1 (weak) to 3 (strong) on four questions: Who wrote it, and do they have expertise? Does it give evidence? Is it recent? Is its main purpose to inform, or to sell or persuade?
Sort the cards into "use for facts", "use for opinions and values" and "do not use".
Write a synthesis paragraph from at least three cards with a fact about how the technology works, one possible benefit and one concern.
Discussion Questions
Card 6 is not a science source. Why can it still belong in a synthesis about impacts on society?
Card 2 and Card 4 make opposite claims. What do they have in common?
What would you search for next to check Card 3's worries?
3
Technology Impact Briefs and a Class Timeline
25 minutes (or one extra class period)Groups of 3-4
Each group gathers information on one technology from at least two reliable sources and makes a one-page brief. The briefs are posted in date order along a class timeline, then the class does a gallery walk.
Technologies (one per group)
Breeding dogs from wolves
Breeding chickens for fast growth
Hybrid corn
Bt cotton
Non-browning apples made by genetic modification
Gene therapy with CRISPR
What Each Brief Must Include
The trait people wanted and how the technology changes it.
Whether offspring inherit the change.
One earlier discovery or tool that made it possible.
One benefit and one concern, each with its source.
The two sources, with author, date and why each is reliable. Good starting points are textbooks, government agriculture and health agencies, university extension services and science museums.
Discussion Questions
Looking along the timeline, which technologies work in one generation and which need many?
Which briefs found a concern about losing genetic variation? Why does variation matter for a crop or breed?
Pick one concern from the gallery. Is it about evidence, about values, or both?
Variation: Structured Discussion
Pairs argue one side of "Should foods made from genetically modified crops carry a label?", then switch sides, then write a joint statement that separates the evidence about safety from the values about choice.
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Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: One Wild Species, Six Vegetables
Selective breeding of wild cabbage. Under each vegetable is the plant part that farmers enlarged by choosing which plants made seeds, generation after generation. All six are still one species and can cross with each other.
Diagram 2: Discoveries and Technologies That Changed Inheritance, Drawn to Scale
Dots mark the years on a scale of 3.2 px per year; labels are shifted slightly where years are close. Selective breeding is thousands of years old, but the technologies that change genes directly appeared within about 50 years, each built on earlier discoveries.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
MS-LS4-5 Homework: Gather, Judge and Synthesize
Directions: Numbers labeled invented are made up for practice. Show calculations, name the sources you use, and keep facts and opinions separate.
Part 1: Gathering and Judging Information (Problems 1-3)
Golden rice is a rice genetically modified to make beta-carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A; a lack of vitamin A can cause blindness in children. Rate these four sources (invented descriptions) from most to least reliable and give a reason for each: (a) a 2015 blog post by an unnamed writer; (b) a recent government agriculture department report with data tables; (c) a recent magazine article quoting a plant scientist and a farmer; (d) a video by a group that sells non-GMO food. (e) Which two would you use together, and why?
Use these dates: dogs were bred from wolves at least 15,000 years ago; hybrid corn was planted on most Corn Belt farms by the early 1940s (use 1940); the first genetically modified bacteria were made in 1973; Bt corn was first planted widely in 1996. (a) How many years passed from 1940 to 1973, and from 1973 to 1996? (b) Compare those gaps with the age of dog breeding. (c) Write one sentence about how the speed of these technologies has changed.
Wisconsin Fast Plants complete a generation in about 40 days. A class selected the hairiest 10% of plants as parents each generation (invented data). Mean hairs on the edge of the first leaf: generation 1, 4.0; generation 2, 5.5; generation 3, 7.2; generation 4, 8.4. (a) Find the change between each pair of generations and the total change. (b) About how many days did the 3 rounds of selection take? (c) Explain why genetic modification could add a trait in one generation, while this needed several.
Part 2: Synthesizing Impacts (Problems 4-6)
Synthesize these three facts about hybrid corn into one paragraph: (1) hybrid corn gave much larger harvests than older varieties; (2) seed saved from hybrid plants does not grow as well, so farmers buy new seed every year; (3) in 1970 a leaf disease spread through U.S. cornfields, where much of the crop had one inherited weakness to it, and destroyed about 15% of the corn. Include a benefit, two concerns and what fact 3 shows about genetic variation.
Make a table comparing selective breeding, genetic modification of a crop and gene therapy in body cells. Columns: what is changed, how many generations it takes, whether offspring inherit the change, one example. Then write two sentences synthesizing the biggest difference.
A town will vote on whether a grocery store may sell a genetically modified apple that does not turn brown when cut (approved in the United States in 2015). Plan how you would gather information before the vote. (a) Write three questions you need answered. (b) Name three kinds of reliable sources and what each would tell you. (c) Name one source you would avoid and why. (d) Describe how you would present facts and values separately to the town.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
Gathering and Judging Sources
Judges reliability by author, evidence, date and purpose, and explains each rating
Ratings given with only one reason, or based on agreeing with the source
Synthesis
Combines several sources into one explanation, names them, and notes agreement or disagreement
Lists facts from each source without combining them
How Inheritance Changes
Correctly says what each technology changes and whether offspring inherit it, with correct calculations
Mostly correct, with one error about inheritance or a calculation
Impacts on Society
Gives benefits and concerns backed by evidence, and separates evidence from values
One-sided, or mixes opinions with facts
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Numbers labeled invented are made up. For each question about a source, think about who wrote it, its evidence, its date and its purpose. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is an example of artificial selection?
Answer: A
In artificial selection, people choose which organisms with a desired trait reproduce, so the next generation inherits more of that trait. Choice B is a natural event, not a human choice. Choice C is genetic modification, and choice D is gene therapy: both change genes directly instead of choosing parents.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What makes an organism a genetically modified organism (GMO)?
Answer: C
A GMO has DNA that was changed directly with laboratory tools. Choice B describes selective breeding, which changes traits by choosing parents, not by editing genes. Choices A and D describe how an organism was raised or treated, which does not change its genes.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student is gathering information on a gene therapy. Which source is most reliable?
Answer: B
A health agency names its experts, shows its evidence and is not selling the treatment, and the page is up to date. Choice A has a purpose to sell. Choice C has no author and cannot be checked. Choice D is one person's opinion with no stated expertise.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
The first genetically modified bacteria were made in 1973, and insulin made by genetically modified bacteria was approved in 1982. How many years passed between the two events?
Answer: D
1982 - 1973 = 9 years. Choice A counts both end years as if they were whole years in the gap. Choice B subtracts from the DNA double helix year, 1982 - 1953 = 29. Choice C uses the wrong pair of events, the Human Genome Project and insulin, 2003 - 1982 = 21.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Wisconsin Fast Plants complete a generation in about 40 days. How many complete generations can a class grow in a 180-day school year?
Answer: A
180 ÷ 40 = 4.5, so 4 complete generations fit (half a generation does not make seeds). Choice B rounds 4.5 up, which would need 200 days. Choice C subtracts, 180 - 40 = 140. Choice D multiplies, 180 × 40 = 7,200.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A patient's inherited eye disease is treated with gene therapy that delivers working genes to cells in the eye. Why can the patient's children still inherit the disease gene?
Answer: C
Offspring inherit genes from the egg and sperm. The therapy changed only eye cells, so eggs or sperm still carry the faulty gene. Choice B has it backwards: children do not inherit genes from eye cells. Choices A and D are not what happens; the changed eye cells keep the working gene.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Source 1, a seed company ad, says its modified corn "raises harvests 50%". Source 2, a three-year university field trial, found 8% larger harvests. Which synthesis is best?
Answer: D
A careful synthesis gives more weight to the source with evidence and no reason to sell, and says why the other is weaker. Choice A trusts the source with a reason to exaggerate. Choice B averages, (50 + 8) ÷ 2 = 29, which mixes a tested result with an advertisement. Choice C throws out good evidence just because another source disagrees.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
For years, farmers sprayed the same weed killer on fields of soybeans modified to survive it. Now some weeds in those fields also survive it. Which explanation fits the evidence?
Answer: D
Weeds varied, and the few with inherited resistance survived the spray and reproduced, so resistant weeds became common. This is natural selection, a real concern that comes with relying on one weed killer. Choice A gives plants learning, choice B is not how pollen works between different species, and choice C describes change on purpose, which is not how inherited variation arises.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Invented data: one collection from a bull fills 300 doses for artificial insemination, and the bull is collected 2 times a week. How many doses can be made in 10 weeks?
Answer: C
300 × 2 × 10 = 6,000 doses. Choice A is only one week, 300 × 2. Choice B forgets the 2 collections a week, 300 × 10. Choice D adds the numbers, 300 + 2 + 10.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which pair is in the right order, with the earlier discovery making the later technology possible?
Answer: D
Knowing the structure of DNA (1953) came before scientists could cut and add genes (1973). Choices A, B and C all reverse the real order: DNA was discovered before gene therapy, Mendel's work (1866) came long before CRISPR (2012), and modified bacteria (1973) came before Bt crops (1996).
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Some dog breeds were selected for very short muzzles (snouts). Which impact of this selective breeding is supported by evidence?
Answer: A
Veterinarians report that many short-muzzled breeds, such as bulldogs and pugs, have narrow airways and breathing problems: selective breeding can bring harmful traits along with wanted ones. Choice B is false, since all breeds are one species. Choice C is wrong because the puppies inherit the short muzzle. Choice D has no support.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
How is genetic modification different from selective breeding?
Answer: B
Selective breeding can only work with variation that already exists in a species and the relatives it can cross with, but genetic modification can add a gene from another species, such as a bacterial gene in corn. Choice A is false because both change inherited traits. Choice C is false (Bt corn is a plant). Choice D is reversed: farmers bred plants long before laboratories existed.
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Invented data: a breeding program raised the average number of eggs a hen lays from 180 to 300 a year over 40 generations. What was the average increase per generation?
Answer: B
(300 - 180) ÷ 40 = 120 ÷ 40 = 3 eggs per generation. Choice A divides the final number by the generations, 300 ÷ 40 = 7.5. Choice C is the total increase, not the increase per generation. Choice D divides the starting number, 180 ÷ 40 = 4.5.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Before 1982, people with diabetes (a disease in which the body cannot control its blood sugar) used insulin taken from the pancreases of cattle and pigs, and some were allergic to it. Then insulin made by bacteria with an added human insulin gene was approved. Which sentence synthesizes these facts best?
Answer: A
The synthesis links the two facts: bacteria carrying the human gene make human insulin in large amounts, which helps people who reacted to animal insulin. Choice B contradicts the allergy fact. Choice C ignores the 1982 date. Choice D is wrong because the patients' own genes are not changed at all.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Rate these two sources on whether chickens bred for fast growth have health problems, and explain your ratings: Source 1 is a recent article by a university poultry veterinarian that cites studies. Source 2 is an undated flyer from a restaurant chain that says "our chicken is the healthiest ever".
Source 1 is more reliable: the author has expertise, it is recent and it cites studies. Source 2 is weak: it has no author or date, gives no evidence and its purpose is to sell. A student could still note that Source 2 shows what the company wants buyers to believe, but would not use it for facts.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
GloFish are aquarium fish, first sold in the early 2000s, with an added gene for a glowing protein that comes from a jellyfish or a coral. Their offspring glow too. Write a two-sentence synthesis about how this technology changes inheritance and one question you would research next.
GloFish are genetically modified: a gene from another species was added to the fish, and because their eggs and sperm carry it, their offspring inherit the glowing trait. Unlike selective breeding, this added a trait the species never had. A good next question: "What happens if GloFish escape into warm streams, and do the glowing colors change how predators find them?"
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Invented data: in one county, 450 of 500 cornfields were planted with Bt corn and the rest with non-Bt corn as refuges. What percent of the fields are refuges? Explain why refuges slow the spread of pests resistant to Bt.
500 - 450 = 50 refuge fields, and 50 ÷ 500 = 10%. In refuges, pests without resistance survive and mate with the rare resistant pests from Bt fields, so fewer offspring inherit resistance from both parents. Without refuges, resistant pests would mate mostly with each other and resistance would spread faster.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Use Diagram 2 to explain how earlier discoveries made the first CRISPR therapy possible. Name at least three earlier events in order.
Mendel's experiments (1866) showed that traits are inherited in predictable ways. The DNA double helix (1953), found with X-ray images, showed what genes are made of. Genetically modified bacteria (1973) showed that genes could be moved between organisms, and the Human Genome Project (2003) gave the full list of human DNA letters. CRISPR (2012) then gave a way to edit a chosen spot, which led to the approved therapy in 2023.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Using evidence, give one benefit and one concern of breeding chickens for very fast growth, and say whether each is about evidence, values or both.
Benefit: chickens reach market weight much faster, so meat costs less to produce; this is evidence. Concern: some fast-growing birds develop leg and heart problems; that is evidence, and whether the trade-off is acceptable is a question of values. A strong answer keeps the facts and the judgment separate.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Scientists can edit genes in a patient's blood cells but most countries do not allow edited embryos to be used to start a pregnancy. Explain the difference and give one reason people give for each side of the debate.
Editing blood cells changes only that patient; editing an embryo changes every cell, including eggs or sperm, so the change would be inherited by future generations. For: it could keep a serious inherited disease out of a family. Against: mistakes or unexpected effects would be passed on, and the future children cannot consent. A balanced answer gives both reasons without saying one side is obviously right.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
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Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does MS-LS4-5 mean?
MS-LS4-5 asks students to gather and synthesize information about technologies that changed how humans influence which traits organisms inherit. Examples are selective breeding, animal husbandry, genetic modification and gene therapy. The code means Middle School, Life Science, core idea 4 (Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity), performance expectation 5.
What grade is MS-LS4-5 taught in?
It is a middle school standard for grades 6-8, usually taught in grade 7 or 8 life science. It often closes a unit on heredity and evolution, after students learn about inherited traits and natural selection.
What is the difference between artificial selection and natural selection?
In artificial selection, people choose which organisms reproduce; in natural selection, the environment does. A farmer saving seed from the sweetest melons is artificial selection. Weeds that survive a weed killer and leave more offspring are natural selection, even though people caused the change in the environment.
Are GMOs safe to eat?
Major scientific reviews have found that the genetically modified foods on the market are as safe to eat as the same foods from conventional crops. A 2016 report of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found no substantiated evidence that they were less safe to eat than foods from conventionally bred crops. Debate continues about other questions, such as pests and weeds becoming resistant, effects on farmers' costs and seed choices, and labeling. A balanced lesson presents both the safety evidence and these open questions.
Is gene therapy passed on to children?
Usually not: approved gene therapies change body cells, such as eye or blood cells, not eggs or sperm. A treated patient can still pass the original gene to children. Changing an embryo would be inherited, which is why many countries do not allow edited embryos to be used to start a pregnancy.
How do students judge whether a source is reliable for MS-LS4-5?
They check four things: the author and their expertise, the evidence, the date and the purpose. Government agriculture and health agencies, university extension services, science museums and textbooks usually do well. Advertisements, anonymous posts and sites that sell products need extra checking, whichever side they are on.
What counts as "synthesizing" information?
Synthesizing means combining several sources into one explanation, not listing what each says. A synthesis names its sources, shows where they agree and disagree, and draws one conclusion. "Card A and Card B agree that the virus nearly wiped out papaya farms; Card C adds that sales to Japan were delayed" is a synthesis.
What technologies made genetic engineering possible?
Genetic engineering grew out of a chain of earlier discoveries. Mendel showed how traits are inherited (1866), X-ray images helped reveal the DNA double helix (1953), and tools to cut and join DNA produced the first modified bacteria (1973). DNA sequencing and the Human Genome Project (2003) followed, and CRISPR editing (2012) made precise changes easier.
How should teachers handle disagreements about GMOs or gene therapy?
Keep evidence and values separate. Ask students to support factual claims with reliable sources and to label opinions as opinions. Present benefits and concerns side by side, and never ask students to discuss their own or their family's health conditions.
How does MS-LS4-5 connect to other standards?
It builds on MS-LS3-1 (how gene changes affect traits) and MS-LS4-4 (how variation affects survival). It also uses the writing skill in WHST.6-8.8, gathering and judging sources. In high school, HS-LS3-1 and HS-LS1-1 go deeper into DNA and how genes code for proteins.
07
Related Standards
5 standards
These standards connect to MS-LS4-5: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
3-LS3-1Prerequisite
Use data to show that traits are inherited from parents and vary in a group
Lesson coming soon
Alongside
MS-LS3-1Parallel
Model why changes to genes may affect proteins and be harmful, helpful or neutral
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