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Science: 5 - Heredity
1. List 10 traits of humans that are inherited from their parents.
2. Which of these is an example of heredity?
a. a tree leaning away from a constant wind
b. a dog able to fetch a ball on command
c. a sheep with a black face and white body
d. a student memorizing the names of states
3. Look at the chart below to answer the question. Which students would you
most expect to have parents with brown eyes?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Stephanie and Caleb
Jose and Caleb
Stephanie and Anna
Jose and Anna
4. A student was trying to discover some things her hamster had learned.
Which of these is a learned trait?
a. being more active during the night than during the day
b. going to the food dish when the cage door is opened
c. burrowing down in the wood shavings in its cage
d. eating seeds, fruit, and vegetables for food
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5. A student was trying to discover some traits her hamster had learned.
Which of these is a learned trait?
a. Being more active during the night than the day.
b. Going to the food dish when the cage door is opened.
c. Washing its body by licking its paws, then rubbing.
d. Eating seeds, fruit, and vegetables for food.
6. How can knowing the difference between learned and inherited traits help
people?
a. Training an animal affects what that animal will eat.
b. It’s easier to take a dog to the veterinarian than a cat.
c. Breeding purebred Labrador puppies can make money.
d. Hair color is an inherited trait but can be changed.
7. Gregor Mendel was a monk who lived long ago. His experiments showed
that pea seeds produce peas inherited characteristics from their parent
organisms. Scientists following him found that chicks grow up to look like
their parent chickens and young lambs look like their parent sheep.
Which of the following is an application of Mendel’s discovery?
a. Poodle puppies look like their parents.
b. Emily dyed her hair to look like her mother.
c. Jake has a cold, and so does his mother.
d. Flower petals usually come in a variety of colors.
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8. When Sue opened an old bag of flour meal, she saw a couple of dark
beetles and several worm­like animals that had a hard shell like covering.
She wondered if the worm­like animals were related to the dark beetles in
some way. What could Sue do to collect more information to answer her
question?
a. Put both the beetle and the worm­like animal in a warm, moist
environment and see if they survive over time
b. Put the worm­like animals in a controlled environment to see if they
changed into the beetles over a given time period
c. Do an experiment to see if both the beetles and the worm­like animals
both liked another type of food
d. Do an experiment to see if both the beetles and the worm­like animals
like hotter or cooler temperatures
9. How would you explain to your friends about inherited traits of a plant?
a. Fruit will have the same number of seeds as each other.
b. Young trees will have the same leaf shape as their parent trees.
c. Flowers will inherit the same petal color as each other.
d. Bushes will grow to be the same height as their parent plant.
10. Which characteristic best completes the diagram?
a.
b.
c.
d.
hunting skill
muscle strength
shape of mouth
gentle or fierce
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11. Seeds from the same parent plants were planted in a garden. The average
height of these plants was 15cm, but two plants grew twice as tall (30cm).
Which sentence explains a logical possibility?
a. One of the grandparent plants had white blossoms
b. The two seeds were not buried as deep as the others
c. One of the grandparent plants was tall
d. The two seeds were older than the other seeds
12. Which environment is a buffalo best adapted to?
a. ice sheets
b. mountains
c. desert
d. grasslands
13. Which of these is an example of heredity?
a. A tree leaning away from a constant wind
b. A dog able to fetch a ball on command
c. A sheep with a black face and white body
d. A student memorizing the names of states and capitols
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14. Which diagram best shows inherited traits?
a.
b.
c.
d.
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15. Dogs from iceland have thick fur. What advantage does that give the dogs?
a. They look bigger and impress their enemies
b. They stay warmer in the colder climate
c. They hunt better and can catch more food
d. More people will want them and they become popular
16. Use this chart to answer the question.
Which students would you most expect to have parents with brown eyes?
a. Stephanie and Caleb
b. Andy and Caleb
c. Stephanie and Anna
d. Jose and Anna
17. Students were asked to predict the eventual outcome of planting several
kernels of multi­colored Indian corn. Which of the following statements
offers the best prediction?
a. Every plant will be totally different because one ear of Indian corn has
lots of color.
b. Every plant will resemble the parent plant but there will also be some
variations too.
c. Every plant will be exactly the same because it came from the same
parent plant.
d. Every plant will start out differently but will eventually grow to be an
identical copy.
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18. An egg layed by a butterfly turns into a caterpillar. How can an offspring
look so different from its parent?
a. All offspring look different from their parents
b. The caterpillar will become a butterfly
c. When the caterpillar lays eggs, they will hatch into butterflies
d. Butterflies are different from one another and from their parents
19. Egg­­­­­­­­­­­­Tadpole­­­­­­­­­­­­Frog
Egg­­­­­­­­­­­­Caterpillar­­­­­­­­­­­­Butterfly
Egg­­­­­­­­­­­­Mealworm­­­­­­­­­­­­Darkling Beetle
Seed­­­­­­­­­­­­Seedling­­­­­­­­­­­­Vegetable Plant
Study the diagram above. Which of the following research questions would
best give you more information about offspring that don't initially
resemble their parents?
a. Do all offspring start out as eggs?
b. Are insects the only organisms that change?
c. What other example of plant and animal offspring go through changes
until they resemble its parent?
d. How do the offspring's stages of change affect the surrounding
environment?
20. In what way will a puppy always be like its parents?
a. bark the same when it wants into the house
b. learn the same tricks
c. have the same body structure
d. live in the same places
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21. When collecting data on inherited traits, which of the following would be
included in the survey?
a. braided hair
b. pierced ears
c. learning to read
d. widow's peak
22. Which of these is a learned trait of bears?
a. Whether to catch fish from the stream or bank
b. Whether their main food is fish or rodents
c. Whether their fur is brown or black
d. Whether their claws are long or short
23. Use the chart to answer the question.
Among these eight plants, which physical traits appear more frequently?
a. White petals with orange centers and tall stems
b. White petals with yellow centers and tall stems
c. Red petals with orange centers and short stems
d. Red petals with yellow centers and short stems
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24. Use this chart to answer the question.
Which trait could be influenced by the environment?
a. Eye color, it changes with the seasons
b. Eye color, it changes as you get older
c. Height, it is affected by what you eat
d. Height, you can stretch to grow taller
25. Use the chart to answer the question.
Describe the possible physical traits of the two parent plants of these eight
offspring.
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26. How does a breeder of Cocker Spaniels make sure every puppy they raise
looks like a Cocker Spaniel?
a. They cross a female Cocker Spaniel with a Golden Retriever
b. They dock their tails and ears as soon as they are born
c. They train the puppies to act like all Cocker Spaniels do
d. They make sure the mother and father are Cocker Spaniels
27. Compare the picture of the parent and its offspring.
Which traits are similar in the parent and the offspring?
Which traits are different between the parent and the offspring?
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28. Each animal listed below has a trait that helps it survive in its environment.
Describe how that trait would help or harm the animal if the animal were
moved to a new environment.
A. Polar bears have heavy fur coats to keep them warm in the Arctic. How
would the heavy fur coat affect the polar bear if it lived in the desert?
B. Sea lions have flippers that enable to them to be excellent swimmers.
What would happen if they lived only on land?
C. Fish gills allow fish to take in oxygen from water. What would happen if
they lived only on land?
29. Which would be the best title for this table?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Animals’ Feet Shapes
Animals’ Specialized Structures
Animals’ Food Gathering Structures
Environments of Animals
30. A student used a classification key to compare aspen trees growing at
different places in a canyon. What does this show?
a. Using a classification key is too difficult for identifying leaves.
b. Only a botanist can correctly use a classification key.
c. Classification keys contain all the known information about a plant.
d. Using a classification key can help many people, not just scientists.
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31. How does the shape of a bird's beak relate to what the bird eats? Use the
chart below to answer the question.
a.
b.
c.
d.
A pelican’s pouch acts as a net to gather fish.
A duck’s flat beak helps it catch fish.
A duck’s rounded beak helps it spear fish.
A pelican’s flat beak helps it scoop water plants.
32. What would be the best conclusion from this chart?
a.
b.
c.
d.
An Ostrich is twice as fast as a Peregrine Falcon.
A Black Mamba Snake is twice as fast as an Ostrich.
A Peregrine Falcon is five times faster than an Ostrich.
A Cheetah is four times faster than a Black Mamba Snake.
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33. A student used this chart to make a graph of animal speeds. Which graph
is correct?
a.
b.
c.
d.
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34.
Which title best fits this table?
a. Animals’ Feet Shapes
b. Animals’ Specialized Structures
c. Animals’ Food Gathering Structures
d. Environments of All Animals
35. A student wanted to compare aspen trees growing at the base of a
mountain with aspen trees growing near the top of a mountain. She used a
classification key to identify the aspen leaves. Which statement does this
demonstrate?
a. Using a classification key is too difficult for identifying leaves.
b. Only a botanist can correctly use a classification key.
c. Classification keys contain all the known information about a plant.
d. Using a classification key can help many people, not just scientists.
36. Students in a class wanted to test how a cactus would grow in a wetlands
environment. Emily wrote a question and a hypothesis, and planted the
cactus in a wet terrarium. Rachel planted one cactus in a wet terrarium and
one in a dry terrarium.
Which student did a correct experiment?
a. Only Emily, because she wrote her question and hypothesis.
b. Only Rachel, because she planted one each in a wet and dry terrarium.
c. Neither student, because they didn’t write the steps to their experiment.
d. Both students, because there are many ways to do an experiment.
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37. A student wanted to compare running speeds of horses and elephants.
Which keyword search would be most helpful?
a. animals of the world
b. history of horses
c. fastest land animals
d. animals of Africa
38. How does the shape of the beak determine what it eats? Use the chart
below to find the best conclusion:
a.
b.
c.
d.
A pelican’s pouch acts as a net to gather fish.
A duck’s pouch acts as a net to gather fish.
A duck’s rounded beak helps it spear fish
A pelican’s rounded beak could help it scoop water plants.
39. Which animal is best adapted to survive a cold climate?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Seal
Rattlesnake
Bluegill Fish
Hummingbird
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40. Find the best conclusion using just the data below:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Cheetahs are faster than Peregrine Falcons.
A Cheetah and an Ostrich run about the same speed.
A Peregrine Falcon is faster than a Quarterhorse.
A Quarterhorse is faster than a Cheetah.
41. What specialized structures do deer have that help them survive against
predators?
a. insulating hair
b. large and intelligent brains
c. good digestive systems
d. fast running bodies
42. Which environment is a buffalo best adapted to?
a. ice sheets
b. mountains
c. desert
d. grassland
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43. In the Galapagos Islands, there are many species of plants and animals that
are not found anywhere else in the world. These species have developed
specialized characteristics that have given them a survival advantage for
those unique environments. Which of the following statements show the
best attitude for keeping an open and questioning mind regarding these
unique plants and animals?
a. Over time, these organisms have slowly changed to adapt to their
environment by passing down traits from parent to offspring that offer
the best chances for survival.
b. There is no logical explanation for the strange plants and animals that
live on these islands and people should just accept that things happen
for no apparent reason.
c. At one point in time, these islands were once part of a major continent
that broke away. The plants and animals have never changed and are
still the same as they once were.
d. Only highly trained experts can explain something that happened over
a long period of time because most people just can't understand all the
detail.
44. If you got a kitten, fed it cat food, let it live indoors and never taught it to
hunt, it would still know how to catch a mouse. Why?
a. Instinctive behavior is inherited from parents
b. It must have learned it from its mother or father
c. Other adult cats in the neighborhood will teach kittens
d. It can learn from humans or other pets
45. Marcus was researching about polar bears and read that even though they
had white fur they had black skin underneath. What survival advantage
would this give to the polar bears?
a. It would help them find food more easily on top of the ice
b. It would help them hunt seals quicker because of the dark color
c. It would help them absorb more heat and keep warmer
d. It would help them help find a more protective cave for sleeping
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46. Which of the following is NOT a way desert animals have adapted to
survive in the desert?
a. thick fur
b. they are active at night
c. small size
d. live in burrows
47. Dogs from Iceland have thick hair. What advantage does that give the
dogs?
a. They look bigger and impress their enemies.
b. They stay warmer in the cold climate.
c. They hunt better and can catch more food.
d. More people will want them and they become popular.
48. Describe three ways a bear is adapted to the forest environment it lives in.
49. What advantage do the flippers of a penguin provide? What disadvantage?
50. Compare the picture of the parent and its offspring.
Which traits are similar in the parent and the offspring?
Which traits are different in the parent and the offspring?
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51. Describe three advantages that webbed feet give a duck in a wetland
environment. Responses must be detailed and show connection between
the shape of the duck's feet and the environmental advantage.
52. Describe two of your traits that you inherited from your parents. Describe
two of your traits that you did not inherit from your parents.
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