Identify and Compare Traits is a science lesson for both 2nd and 3rd grade students. Teachers can follow the detailed lesson plan easily. The lesson suggests several additional options. Students could work in pairs for the activity, or teachers can add additional traits. The students could create a self-portrait displaying some of their traits. Teachers could also give additional information on animal traits. They could have students compare human traits to animal traits. These are just some examples of ways to get creative with this lesson plan.
This lesson specifically teaches why people have differing traits. A student may wonder, for example, why they have brown hair while their siblings have black hair. While they may recognize different physical traits, they may not understand the concept. The objective of this lesson is for students to define, identify, and compare physical traits.
What Identify and Compare Traits includes
The content pages provide a detailed explanation of what traits are why they differ. It present traits like right-handedness, eye color, dimples, and hair color. It also points out how some traits are less or more common than others. Only about 2% of people in the world have red hair, for instance. And about 90% of people use their right hand, not the left, for most activities.
While describing human traits is important, the lesson also compares the physical traits of animals. The Human Traits page explains several unique traits, such as freckles, hand clasping, and tongue rolling. Students will begin to see just how many different traits there are.
The activity will require students to illustrate the physical traits they learned about. For example, they will have to draw a hairline showing a widow’s peak. They will also have to draw a person with either curly or straight hair. This will be a fun way to demonstrate their understanding of what various traits look like.
The practice worksheet will work a little differently. Instead of drawing pictures, students will fill in the blanks with the correct word. They will have to match a word to the definition they learned for a specific trait. Next, students will answer questions based on the content they learned throughout the lesson.
The homework assignment asks students to interview others (such as parents or friends) at home. They will write five different people’s names in a chart. They will ask each person to do certain things to determine if they have those traits. For instance, they will ask each person if they can roll their tongue. Afterward, the students will mark 10 statements either true or false.
Each of these worksheets will test students’ comprehension of the concept of physical traits. Answer keys are provided where appropriate.