Introduction to genetics

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/introduction-to-genetics

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific field?Genetics is the scientific study of genes, heredity, and genetic variation
2. What is the mechanism of inheritance?Traits are passed from parents to offspring through the inheritance of genes
3. What are genes and why do they matter?Genes are the tiny units that carry the family instructions inside DNA. They help decide traits like eye color or height that we see in parents and children.
4. How does DNA give us our traits?DNA is a double‑helix code made of letters called nucleotides. The order of these letters tells cells how to make proteins, which build and shape our bodies.

Genetics: The branch of biology concerned with the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes.
Gene: A unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.
Allele: One of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome.