All Resources and Lesson Plans: Genetics and Heredity

All in the Family
In this Evolution Web feature, test your skills at judging who's who on the tree of life while you learn about the tools and methods of cladistics.

Animal Babies
This interactive slide show illustrates the variety of animal babies that exist on earth -- some completely independent and others deeply reliant on parental care.

Animal Coverings
It takes a thick skin to withstand the hardships that life has to offer. This collection of images shows a variety of animals, each with a slightly different type of protective covering.

Becoming a Mosquito
Join students as they observe mosquitoes in different stages of development and learn about the insect's life cycle in this video from Curious George.

Bird Beak Gallery
This collection of images of 10 different birds illustrates the diversity of bird beaks.

Blood Vessels Help Tumors Grow
In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, Dr. Judah Folkman uses the scientific method to discover how cancer cells induce the formation of new blood vessels, which in turn nourish those cancer cells.

Build a Family Tree
Both sexes can use this interactive feature that lets you use DNA information from the Y chromosome to complete a male family tree. From the NOVA: "Lost Tribes of Israel" Web site.

Cell Membrane: Just Passing Through
This interactive feature describes some of the most important structures and functions of the cell membrane.

Cell Transcription and Translation
In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Nebraska, learn how and where transcription and translation occur within a cell and observe both processes in detail.

Classical vs. Transgenic Breeding
This video segment from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "Harvest of Fear" explains that genetic engineering and classical breeding both alter the genetic makeup of crop plants.

Common Past, Different Paths
This time-lapse microphotography of developing embryos shows the common ancestry of all vertebrates. Footage from NOVA: "Odyssey of Life."

Dab of DNA Helps Keep Counterfeiters at Bay
Find out in this USA Today article how DNA sequences can vouch for a souvenir's authenticity.

DNA Databases
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" investigates the promises and concerns surrounding the use of DNA databases.

DNA Evidence
This audio segment is a National Public Radio story on New York State's DNA profiling of criminals.

DNA Fingerprints
Students learn how DNA fingerprinting has been used in criminal investigations and discuss the limitations of and problems with DNA testing.

DNA on the Witness Stand
In this article, Dr. Eric Lander of the Human Genome Project comments on the use of DNA as an identification tool -- the theoretical versus the practical results.

Double Immunity
Dr. Stephen O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute discovers a 700-year-old mutation that makes a person resistant to HIV infection. From Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race."

Engineer a Crop: Transgenic Manipulation
You're the geneticist now. In this interactive feature from the NOVA/FRONTLINE "Harvest of Fear" Web site, use the latest in genetic technology to engineer your own "supercrop" of tomatoes.

Explore a Stretch of Code
Try your hand at reading a segment of genetic code in this interactive feature from the NOVA "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.

The Expression of Genetic Information
In this media-rich lesson, students explore the preservation and expression of genetic information within the cell. They analyze a short DNA sequence, translate an RNA sequence, and relate a sequence difference to a particular trait.

Finding Cures Is Hard
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explains the difficulty of curing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

Floral Arrangements
Explore a few of the ways plants pollinate each other in this video segment from Sexual Encounters of a Floral Kind.

Forensics
Find out how DNA profilers analyze bits of tissue to identify human remains. From NOVA: "Lost on Everest" Web site.

From Seed to Flower
Watching plants grow is like watching paint dry: It happens so slowly that the changes are imperceptible from one moment to the next -- and yet the end results are dramatic. This video segment shows just how amazing plant development can be by depicting various phases of the process using time-lapse photography. Footage from NOVA: "The Shape of Things."

Gel Electrophoresis
This interactive activity from the Dolan DNA Learning Center illustrates the process of gel electrophoresis, in which DNA fragments are separated by size as they migrate at different rates through a gel matrix.

Gene Inheritance
Students explore the process of meiosis and how genes, including those that cause disease, are passed from one generation to the next.

Genetic Drift and the Founder Effect
This image of polydactyly illustrates one symptom of Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, which is commonly found in the Amish. Ellis-van Creveld is one example of the founder effect and genetic drift.

Genetics: Tour of the Basics
In this interactive activity from the University of Utah, identify different kinds of genetic traits and how they are passed on from generation to generation. View examples of simple and complex trait inheritance.

Genetic Therapy and Breast Tumors
This video segment from the Secret of Life School Video: "On the Brink: Portraits of Modern Science" explores the genetics of breast cancer.

Genetic Variation
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explores the genetic similarities and differences among organisms.

Growing Up, Growing Old
This collection of six images captures the magnificence of human development -- the transformation from baby to woman.

Hatchlings and Newborns
It's a universal event that no one can remember: being born. This video segment shows that there are different ways to come into the world and suggests that some newborns and hatchlings are ready for independence far sooner than others.

How Cancer Cells Grow and Divide
This animation from NOVA: "Battle in the War on Cancer: Breast Cancer" describes how oncogenes cause cancer and how cancerous cells can spread throughout the body.

How Cells Divide: Mitosis vs. Meiosis
How exactly does meiosis mix and halve chromosomes? Find out through this feature from NOVA: "18 Ways to Make a Baby," which provides a step-by-step, side-by-side comparison of meiosis and mitosis.

How DNA Replicates
This narrated animation from Interactive NOVA: "The Secret of Life" illustrates DNA replication.

How to Conquer a Genetic Disease
In Blazing a Genetic Trail, by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, follow this three-step approach to treating genetic diseases.

Human Genome Project
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" looks at the meaning and significance of the effort to decode the human genome.

Inheritance of Genetic Disorders
Students learn how mutations in a gene can cause disease by simulating inheritance patterns and by researching disorders and presenting their findings.

Journey into DNA
Travel deep into the human body to see exactly where your DNA resides. From the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.

Life Cycles of Frogs, Dragonflies, and Butterflies
Students explore similarities and differences in the life cycle of organisms and are introduced to the process of metamorphosis.

The Mating Game
This interactive feature from the Evolution Web site takes a lighthearted but informative look at some of the strategies various organisms use to reproduce.

Metamorphosis: Change of Plans
All animals develop and grow over time. The animals in this video segment, however, undergo very dramatic changes on their way to adulthood -- a developmental process known as metamorphosis.

Migration of the Monarch
This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores the migratorial exploits of monarch butterflies.

Modeling DNA Structure
Students explore the structure of the DNA molecule and begin to understand how chromosomes, genes, and the base pairs, sugars, and phosphates of the DNA molecule are related.

Molecular Evidence for Evolutionary Relationships
Students learn about the evolutionary relationship between humans and other organisms by comparing amino acid sequences in cytochrome c from a variety of species.

Mouse Party
In this interactive activity from The University of Utah, examine the molecular mechanisms that affect the brains of mice on drugs. Learn how different drugs create different responses in the brain and alter the natural state of a mouse.

Nature vs. Nurture Revisited
Which dictates our existence -- our genetic makeup or the environment we grow up in? Kevin Davies offers an update on this long-standing debate, from the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.

Paper Towel Plants
In this video from Curious George, learn about how beans, a type of seed, can sprout into plants.

Polar Bears and Climate Change
In this video from the World Wildlife Fund, learn how rising temperatures in the southern Arctic could lead to polar bear extinction.

The Process of Scientific Experimentation
Students expand their understanding of the "scientific method" of experimentation by watching video accounts of actual scientific research and exploring the factors involved in real scientific processes.

The Red Queen
An example of the Red Queen hypothesis, the sexual population of Mexican Poeciliid fish are able to keep up with a changing environment, while the asexual populations are not as successful. From Evolution: "Why Sex?"

RNAi Discovered
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how RNAi, a mechanism that has evolved in cells to prevent viral infection, was discovered and how it works.

RNAi Therapy
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about RNAi's potential to treat a wide range of genetic and infectious diseases.

Seahorse Basics
This diagram from the NOVA: "Kingdom of the Seahorse" Web site reveals some of the more remarkable traits of this enigmatic creature.

Sequence for Yourself
How do researchers read the tiny As, Gs, Ts, and Cs that comprise DNA? This step-by-step explanation shows you. From NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life."

Sex and the Single Guppy
Play in our streams and see how exhibitionism has an evolutionary payoff in this Evolution simulation of Endler's experiment.