Authentic Performance Activities facilitate a student’s understanding of a lesson’s usefulness in real life. They are also an Understanding by Design (UbD) assessment tool. Focus questions act as pre- and post-assessment indicators of the activity’s effectiveness.
Focus Questions:
1. Why do we learn about genetics and inheritance of traits?
2. Can you think of any other jobs where knowing about inheritance of traits might be helpful?
3. Can you think of any ways where knowing about inheritance of traits could affect your home and property (flower and vegetable garden)?
Authentic Performance
As a flower grower, you need to grow the most colorful flowers to sell to shops and restaurants, but the blooms also have to last several days with hearty stems to stand up in a vase after being delivered to market. You have some beautiful flowers, but their stems are delicate and they wilt a day after picking. You have some more sturdy flowers with rather plain blossoms that stay fresh for a week after being cut. Flowers inherit their traits from each parent plant through pollination. Environmental factors also affect flowers. Try this activity below.
