Mississippi Science FB.4.6

ScienceGrades 9–12Foundations of Biology

The Standard

FB.4: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how genetic information is transferred from parent to offspring.

Enrichment: Debate the pros and cons of using biotechnology to manipulate genetic information for human purposes (society).

2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Molecular Basis of Heredity

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how a DNA change could produce an intended result. They weigh benefits, risks, and social costs of a proposed use, then defend a position with evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain what an edit aims to change without claiming it is guaranteed to work. They can support a recommendation, address an opposing argument, and name who might benefit or face risks.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume a successful edit cannot cause unintended changes. They may also think edits to a patient's blood cells will pass to that patient's children.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A clinic proposes editing embryos to prevent an inherited disease, but the edit might change other DNA and treatment is costly. Recommend for or against its use, citing one fact from the prompt and addressing one opposing argument.

Lesson moves

Have pairs repair a marked mutation on paper DNA strips, then mark a possible unintended change on a second strip.
Ask: Should parents edit embryos to prevent an inherited disease if the future child cannot consent? Require a claim and rebuttal.
Give teams case cards about edited crops and embryos; award points for naming a benefit, risk, and counterargument for each case.
Post the $2.2 million U.S. list price of a sickle cell gene-editing treatment; ask who might get access and who would pay.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to FB.4.6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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