Choosing Traits: How Humans Breed Life
Aligned to MS-LS4-5 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
For thousands of years humans have influenced which traits get passed on by choosing which organisms reproduce, called artificial selection. New technologies like genetic testing and gene editing now let people select or change desired traits more directly.
Worked example
Farmers bred wild grasses over generations, saving seeds from plants with the biggest kernels, until they created modern corn — and today gene technology lets scientists select disease-resistant crops far faster than breeding alone.
Practice questions
- Compare a wild plant or animal to a domesticated version and list the traits humans favored.
- Make a chart of one traditional and one modern technology used to select traits.
- Synthesize information to explain how a new technology has changed the way humans influence inherited traits.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Elegir rasgos: cómo los humanos crían la vida
Durante miles de años los humanos han influido en qué rasgos se transmiten al elegir qué organismos se reproducen, lo que se llama selección artificial. Nuevas tecnologías como las pruebas genéticas y la edición de genes ahora permiten seleccionar o cambiar rasgos deseados de forma más directa.
Ejemplo: Los agricultores criaron pastos silvestres durante generaciones, guardando las semillas de las plantas con los granos más grandes, hasta crear el maíz moderno — y hoy la tecnología genética permite a los científicos seleccionar cultivos resistentes a enfermedades mucho más rápido que la cría por sí sola.
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