Inheritance is a topic that was highlighted in our survey of teachers as an area where some additional teaching ideas may be helpful. There is a concern, when discussing inheritance, that it may highlight issues in class (adoption etc) if human inheritance is discussed, particularly at primary level. In order to minimise this concern, having your class make ‘ree-bops’ (play-doh ‘animals’ who have inherited genes from their ‘parents’) is an engaging way to teach the topic. Attached are links for introducing the topic of inheritance, assessing knowledge, games and ree-bop instructions.
Reebops-Primary_46 – SSERC bulletein describing reebops in more detail (with pictures) for background information
Inheritance Lesson Ideas – some lesson ideas with CfE links
Inheritance_primary Reebop pedigree cards – cards for pupils to name their ree-bop and add genotype and phenotype data
Vocabulary_inheritance[2] – important vocabulary for children to learn in the topic
genetics_dominoes_2 – game of dominoes to reinforce concepts learned
parents and offspring – picture cards of parent animals and their offspring
Similarities and differences – worksheet to be used with parent and offspring pictures
True_F_NS_Primary – true and false statements about inheritance to assess understanding as well as prior knowledge
Class_data – worksheet to fill in for class continuous variation
Individual_data – worksheet to fill in for individual measurements (continuous variation)
Variation_discon – discrete traits tick list
