Visual Biology: Genetics and Inheritance

Dive into the captivating realm of biology, where the intricacies of living systems unfold. This asynchronous class, based on our incredibly popular weekly Visual Biology Ongoing class,  allows middle and high school learners with any schedule and any any time zone are to embark on an exciting journey that combines their creativity and collaboration skills with the exploration of recent research in biology. Through the engaging practice of sketchnoting, a visual note taking technique, students will develop creative notes that summarize the latest scientific discoveries. 

Our teaching methodology, sketchnoting, is a visual note taking technique that harnesses the doodling many of us naturally do during classes and enhances learning by focusing those drawings into workable notes. Weekly assignments are administered through Padlet, a distance learning tool. Learners use a link posted in the classroom to work through all of the activities on the Padlet for that week.

Each week's module will explore a different objective aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for high school learners. Each module will include an article covering recent research, all taken from Smithsonian Magazine, and a recorded video lesson with the teacher explaining how this article ties to a the bigger biology concept from the NGSS through drawing and visual note-taking. Something to draw on and something to draw with is all that is needed. The remainder of the module will include several extension activities and videos, all administered through Padlet, along with short answer questions to check for understanding. Learners will receive weekly video messages from the teacher through their Outschool messages evaluating the work they have submitted, and a grade can be provided if requested. 

Here is the breakdown of topics for this course: 

HS.LS3: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

Week One
HS.LS3.1: Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.

Week Two
HS.LS3.2: Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis, (2) viable errors occurring during replication, and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.

Week Three
HS.LS3.3: Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.