Genetics and Evolutionary Change
DNA carries the blueprint of life. Heredity, mutations, natural selection, evolution and the genetic technologies shaping modern medicine.
Lessons
12 totalDNA structure and function
The double helix that carries your instruction manual.
Genes and chromosomes
How DNA is organised and what genes actually do.
Heredity and trait inheritance
Why children resemble parents — but aren't identical.
Mutations and genetic variation
Changes to DNA — sometimes harmful, sometimes the engine of evolution.
Natural selection
Survival of the fittest — but it's more subtle than that.
Evidence for evolution
Multiple independent lines of evidence all point the same way.
The theory of evolution
A scientific theory — the most supported explanation we have.
Biodiversity and evolutionary relationships
How evolution produced the variety of life — and how we classify it.
Genetic technologies — sequencing and CRISPR
Reading and editing the code of life.
Ethical considerations in genetic technology
Powerful tools — but who decides how they're used?
Selective breeding
Humans have been directing evolution for thousands of years.
Genetics and evolution in context
Apply genetics and evolution to a real-world problem.
Syllabus Outcomes
- SC5-GEV-01 Describes the relationship between the diversity of living things and the theory of evolution
- SC5-GEV-02 Explains how DNA is responsible for the transmission of heritable characteristics