Lesson Plan | Teachy Methodology | Genetics: Mendel's 1st Law

Objectives

Duration: 10 to 15 minutes

This stage of the lesson plan aims to clearly define the objectives to be achieved during the class, providing both the teacher and students with a clear understanding of the skills and knowledge to be worked on. This guidance is crucial for the activities to be conducted effectively, allowing students to apply the previously studied knowledge in a practical and contextualized manner.

Main Objectives

1. Understand Mendel's First Law and the difference between recessive and dominant genes.

2. Identify how alleles are inherited from the father and mother.

3. Calculate the probability of a child inheriting a recessive or dominant trait.

Side Objectives

1. Develop collaborative work skills using digital tools.
2. Apply genetics concepts to everyday situations and modern dynamics.

Introduction

Duration: 15 to 20 minutes

The purpose of this stage is to introduce the topic engagingly and connected to students' reality, leveraging the use of digital resources. This initial approach creates a collaborative and interactive environment, stimulating students' curiosity and preparing them for a more in-depth debate. The key questions serve to guide the discussion and ensure that students reflect on the studied concepts, promoting a deeper and contextualized understanding.

Warming Up

拾 Warm-up: Start the class by briefly explaining the topic Genetics: Mendel's 1st Law. Discuss how genetics influences our physical and behavioral traits, mentioning terms like dominant and recessive genes. Ask students to use their cell phones to research and share an interesting or curious fact about genetics. Encourage them to explore reliable sources and bring diverse information to enrich the discussion.

Initial Reflections

1. 溺 What are dominant genes and recessive genes?

2.  How are alleles inherited from parents?

3.  What is the probability of a child inheriting a specific trait, considering the parents' alleles?

4.  What are some examples of dominant and recessive traits in humans?

5.  How does Mendel's 1st Law apply to plants and other organisms?

Development

Duration: 70 to 80 minutes

This stage aims to provide students with a practical and engaging opportunity to apply their knowledge of Mendel's 1st Law in modern and digital contexts. The proposed activities utilize technologies accessible and familiar to students, encouraging collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking as they explore and solidify genetic concepts playfully and meaningfully.

Activity Suggestions

It is recommended that only one of the suggested activities be carried out

Activity 1 -  Gene-Influencer: Create Your Mendel Story on Instagram!

> Duration: 60 to 70 minutes

- Objective: Apply genetics concepts in a modern and easily understandable format, using social media to create and share knowledge.

- Description: Students should create a series of posts on Instagram using a special account created for the class, where they will detail Mendel's 1st Law through creative storytelling. Each group should post images, videos, and stories explaining the genetic inheritance process with examples of dominant and recessive traits in humans and plants.

- Instructions:

• Divide students into groups of up to 5 members.

• Each group must create an Instagram account (or use a secondary account) to avoid privacy issues.

• Students should plan and create at least 6 posts covering the following topics: introduction to Mendel's 1st Law, examples of dominant and recessive genes in humans, examples in plants, how alleles are inherited from parents, and the probability of inheritance of traits.

• Use tools like Canva to create images and videos that illustrate the concepts.

• Encourage students to be creative: use memes, infographics, short videos, polls in stories, and relevant hashtags.

• At the end, each group should make a brief presentation, showing their posts and explaining the concepts involved.

Activity 2 -  Mendel's Gamified Quest: Genetic Adventure

> Duration: 60 to 70 minutes

- Objective: Reinforce knowledge of Mendel's 1st Law through a gamified activity, promoting the review and consolidation of concepts in a playful and interactive environment.

- Description: In this activity, students will create an online game using platforms like Kahoot or Quizizz. The game should be based on Mendel's 1st Law, with questions and challenges that address concepts of dominant and recessive genes, genetic inheritance, and probability calculations.

- Instructions:

• Divide students into groups of up to 5 members.

• Each group must use a quiz creation platform, such as Kahoot or Quizizz, to develop their game.

• Students should create 10 to 15 questions that cover the concepts of dominant and recessive genes, inheritance of alleles, and genetic inheritance probability.

• Encourage creativity with interactive questions, images, videos, and graphs that help explain and illustrate the concepts.

• After creating the game, each group should test the game created by another group and provide feedback.

• In the end, the games should be shared with the class, and everyone can play together, while the teacher mediates the discussion about the correct answers and their justifications.

Activity 3 -  Genetics on Stage: Digital Documentary

> Duration: 60 to 70 minutes

- Objective: Develop communication and technology skills by applying genetics concepts in a digital documentary format, promoting a deeper and practical understanding of the topic.

- Description: Students should create a mini-documentary using video editing apps, such as InShot or iMovie, about Mendel's 1st Law. The documentary should include explanations of the concepts, fictional interviews, practical demonstrations with examples of dominant and recessive traits, and probability calculations.

- Instructions:

• Divide students into groups of up to 5 members.

• Each group must script, film, and edit a mini-documentary of 5 to 10 minutes about Mendel's 1st Law.

• Instruct them to include different segments, such as: an introduction about Mendel and his discoveries, explanations about dominant and recessive genes, practical examples (human and non-human), and simulations of probability calculations.

• Students can use cell phones to film and editing apps like InShot or iMovie to edit.

• Encourage creativity by including fictional interviews with 'Mendel' or with characters who can explain concepts in a fun way.

• In the end, each group should present their mini-documentary to the class.

Feedback

Duration: 20 to 25 minutes

 Purpose: This stage aims to consolidate student learning through reflection and sharing experiences. The group discussion promotes the exchange of ideas and critical analysis of the activities carried out, while the 360° feedback encourages self-assessment and the development of collaborative skills. By the end of this stage, students will have a deeper and integrated understanding of genetics concepts and digital teaching methodologies.

Group Discussion

 Group Discussion: Promote a group discussion with all students, where groups share what they learned by carrying out the activities and their conclusions. A possible script that the teacher can use to introduce this discussion includes:

Introduction: Ask students how the experience was of applying genetics concepts using digital tools and social media. Sharing: Ask each group to briefly share their activities and discoveries, highlighting the most interesting or challenging points. Analysis: Encourage students to compare the different approaches used by the groups and discuss what they found most effective or innovative. Conclusion: End by asking how these activities helped consolidate understanding of Mendel's 1st Law and if they managed to correlate these concepts with real-world examples.

Reflections

1. ✨ Reflection Questions:

What was the most challenging part of trying to explain Mendel's 1st Law using digital tools? 2. How can social media and digital tools be effectively used to teach complex scientific concepts? 3. In what way did this teaching methodology, based on practical and digital activities, help to better understand genetics concepts?

360° Feedback

 360° Feedback: Instruct students to carry out a 360° feedback step where each student should receive feedback from their group classmates. Guide the class to provide constructive and respectful feedback, highlighting the strengths of each member's contribution and suggesting areas for improvement. To facilitate, provide a simple digital form or suggest topics to be addressed in the feedback, such as collaboration, creativity, and clarity in communicating concepts.

Conclusion

Duration: 10 to 15 minutes

 Purpose: The purpose of this stage is to consolidate learning by connecting genetics concepts to the daily life of students and the modern world. By making a creative summary and highlighting the real applications of the acquired knowledge, students can better understand the importance of the topic and its practical relevance, cementing the content in a meaningful and contextualized way.

Summary

 Fun Summary: Imagine a grand theater of genetics, where Mendel is the director and our genes are the main actors. They take the stage as dominant or recessive, depending on the role they won in the lottery of alleles from our parents. In this class, we explored how these characters combine to form the unique traits of each individual, and we calculated their chances of starring in a new generation. 溺

World Connection

 In Today's World: Genetics is not just a textbook subject; it is part of our everyday life, from choosing a breed of dog to online ancestry tests. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok often bring content about heredity and genetic traits, making the connection between what we learn in class and the real world even more visible and relevant. 

Practical Application

 Applications: Understanding Mendel's laws is fundamental not only for biology but also for areas such as medicine and agriculture. Understanding how genetic traits are passed from generation to generation helps us predict and even prevent genetic diseases, as well as improve agricultural production through genetic enhancement. 六‍⚕️