Activity 1: Traits

1. Explain to your students the difference between an inherited and an acquired trait.
2. Provide each student with a personal device such as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, and use the AITC Inherited vs. Acquired Kahoot! game to help students practice identifying the difference between inherited and acquired traits. If you do not have enough devices for each student, they may play as teams, or you may use the alternative activity described below.
   • Alternative Activity:
     • Pass out one trait from the Traits List to each student.
     • Using two baskets that you have labeled “Inherited” and “Acquired,” ask students to place their trait statement into the correct basket as you walk down the aisle or to their tables.
     • Once all the traits are placed in the baskets, read each trait card in each basket and discuss the accuracy of the trait placement with the students. If any traits are in the wrong basket, switch the trait’s location and help students understand why the trait fits in the other basket.
3. Show students the Lambs Eat What Mom Eats movie. Ask students to explain what they saw. Did these lambs inherit or acquire their taste preferences?
4. Next, hold a taste test using PTC testing strips to see which students can taste a bitter flavor. PTC can either be very bitter or virtually tasteless depending on the taster’s genetic makeup. The ability to taste PTC is a trait that roughly 70% of Americans inherit. Have some hard candy available for those who can taste the bitter PTC to help them get rid of the unpleasant taste.
5. Refer the students back to the poll question about ice cream preferences. Ask if they would change their answers after watching the movie and doing the PTC taste test, and allow them to move their sticky notes. If students don’t already conclude that some traits can be both inherited and acquired, help them think about the example of taste preference. The ability to taste PTC is inherited, but the movie Lambs Eat What Mom Eats showed that taste can also be acquired through learning.

Activity 2: Value of Domesticated Animals

1. Discuss with students how knowledge of inherited and acquired traits is important to agriculture. Explain the meaning of the term domesticate.
2. Ask students to help you make a list of domestic farm animals on the board. Your list could include cattle, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, or any other domestic animal commonly found on a farm.
3. Next, ask students what purpose each of these animals has. Help students recognize that cattle provide meat and milk, horses historically provided transportation and power, sheep provide meat, wool, and sometimes milk, goats provide meat and milk, chickens provide meat and eggs, and turkeys provide meat.
4. Point out that each animal’s ancestors were once wild. Long ago humans began hunting wild animals. Recognizing that these animals could benefit their families by providing food to eat and fiber or leather for clothing and tools, humans began domesticating animals about 10,000 years ago. Over the ensuing years, farmers have repeatedly chosen to breed animals with the best characteristics for their needs. The animals that produced the most milk or the finest wool were kept for breeding, while others might have been sold or traded or used for meat. As a result of this selective breeding, farm animals have changed in behavior and appearance over the years.
5. While referencing your list of farm animals on the board from steps one and two, ask your students why more animal species are not raised on farms.
6. Allow students to begin thinking about this question, then show the first four minutes of Guns, Germs, and Steel (Part 5).
7. Consider the following questions for class discussion during or after the video clip:
   • Why haven’t most animal species been farmed? (they don’t have a practical use to humans, they could be impractical to farm due to space or diet requirements)
   • What type of animals are best suited for farming? (large, plant-eating mammals)
   • Why aren’t elephants farmed in Asia to accomplish work? (it takes too long for the animal to reach a mature age for working and for reproduction)
   • Why is temperament important to a domesticated animal? (safety and ability to get along with humans)
   • What inherited traits and acquired traits make an animal suitable for domestication? (a good temperament to get along with humans, a practical use/benefit to humans such as the ability to perform work or to provide food)

Activity 3: Student Presentations

1. Assign each student or group of students a domestic farm animal by giving them one of the attached Farm Animal Prompt Cards.
2. Provide students the Presentation Rubric. Ask them to create a short presentation about their animal and to include a visual support. This may be a poster or a PowerPoint, or you may choose to have the students use a multimedia tool like Padlet.
3. Instruct students to include the following items in their presentation:
   • Explanation of why this animal is suited to domestication
   • Name and pictures of assigned farm animal breed
   • Purpose of this breed
   • Examples of inherited traits that help this breed fulfill its purpose. Note: The prompt cards give students three examples of traits for each animal. To challenge your students, require them to find additional traits through their own research.
4. Have the students present their videos and posters to the class and/or post them to your classroom blog or website.