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Mission 5 of 16

Plant Genetics & Heredity

📋 What it is

Plants inherit traits through genes; breeders select desirable traits over generations.

🗣️ Coach says

Plants pass traits to offspring through genes, just like animals. Farmers and gardeners use this: by choosing which plants to breed, they select for traits like sweeter fruit or drought resistance. Over generations, that selection reshapes a crop — heredity, guided by human choice.

🧠 Memory hook

Plants inherit traits by genes; breeders SELECT good traits over generations.

😂 Giggle

My garden's doing well — you could say things are looking up.
Especially the sunflowers.

😲 Whoa!

Wild corn was once a scrawny grass with tiny cobs — thousands of years of selective breeding turned it into the plump corn we eat today.

✅ Quick check: How do plant breeders get sweeter or hardier crops?

Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.

🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)

Compare a wild berry to a store one. The bigger, sweeter store berry is generations of selective breeding.

⭐ Do the round to earn your star →
🤸 Brain break: Select-it: “pick” the best plant with your fingers, then plant it — “breed the good traits.”