Starter quiz
- The complete process of making offspring is called ______.
- 'reproduction' ✓
- The Oak pupils are discussing reproduction. Who is correct?
Aisha: Reproduction only happens in plants and animals.
Lucas: Reproduction is a common life process in all living organisms. ✓
Sofia: Bacteria just divide in two – that’s not reproduction.
- When reproduction involves the fusing of gametes, it is called ______ reproduction.
- 'sexual' ✓
- When two gametes fuse during sexual reproduction, this is called …
- cell division.
- fertilisation. ✓
- gestation.
- ovulation.
-
- Which one is the male gamete in humans?
lymphocyte
ovum
pollen grain
sperm ✓
- Each gamete carries __________ of the genetic material of the parent.
- all
- half ✓
- none
-
Exit quiz
Differences between individuals’ genomes, caused by the genetic material they inherit, are called …- evolution.
- genetic variation. ✓
- sexual reproduction.
- the genome.
-
- True or false? Evolution only occurs when there is genetic variation within a population of organisms.
- True ✓
- False
- Match the advantages and disadvantages to the correct examples.
- advantage of sexual reproduction⇔produces genetic variation in offspring ✓
- disadvantage of sexual reproduction⇔produces offspring at a slower rate ✓
- advantage of asexual reproduction⇔produces offspring at a faster rate ✓
- disadvantage of asexual reproduction⇔produces no variation in offspring ✓
- The Oak pupils are discussing reproduction. Who is correct?
Izzy: Sexual reproduction requires only one gamete.
Jacob: Asexual reproduction requires only one individual. ✓
Jun: Sexual reproduction always produces two offspring.
Laura: Asexual reproduction only happens in bacteria.
True or false? Organisms that reproduce asexually cannot evolve.- True
- False ✓
- Organisms that reproduce asexually can evolve when genetic variation arises in the population. How can genetic variation occur during asexual reproduction?
- A different mate is chosen.
- A mutagenic substance creates a mutation. ✓
- An error is made when the genome is copied. ✓
- The gametes receive different alleles.
- The offspring inherit half of their genome from each parent.
-
Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Sexual reproduction creates genetic variation in offspring by combining alleles from male and female gametes.
- Sexual reproduction occurs at a slower rate than asexual reproduction but creates variation which can lead to evolution.
- Asexual reproduction creates genetically identical offspring with no genetic variation.
- Asexual reproduction typically occurs at a much faster rate than sexual reproduction.
- Organisms that reproduce asexually can evolve if the environment or DNA copying errors cause changes in their genome.
Common misconception
Many students will hold the misconception that "complex" organisms (e.g. animals) use sexual reproduction and "simple" organisms (e.g. plants, microorganisms) use asexual reproduction to reproduce.
This lesson includes examples of plants and animals carrying out asexual and sexual reproduction.
Keywords
Evolution - The process in which the characteristics of species change over many generations, sometimes becoming new species.
Genetic variation - Differences between individuals that are caused by the genetic material they inherit.
Sexual reproduction - The process of creating offspring through the fusing of gametes.
Asexual reproduction - Reproduction involving one parent, giving genetically identical offspring.
Genome - All the genetic material of an organism.