# Like Father, Like Daughter

## Overview

This chapter helps children observe how physical traits and habits can be similar within families. It explains the concept of inherited traits versus those learned from the environment. Through stories, activities, and questions, the chapter encourages students to explore family resemblances, understand differences in upbringing, and learn about basic genetics through the life of Gregor Mendel. It also debunks myths about inherited diseases like polio.

## Key Topics Covered

### 1. Observing Family Traits
- Ashima sneezes like her father. This sparks a conversation about how habits or physical traits may resemble those of family members.
- Children are encouraged to identify a habit or feature they share with someone in the family.

### 2. Understanding Relationships
- Nilima visits her nani’s (grandmother's) house and learns how various family members are related.
- Through this, the chapter illustrates how relationships and titles like “mausi”, “cousin”, etc., are used in extended families.

### 3. Trait Inheritance: Hair and Facial Features
- Examples show how Nilima’s curly hair resembles her nani’s.
- Children observe traits in siblings or cousins and identify which side (mother or father) the trait comes from.

### 4. Measurement of Hair and Height
- Activities involve measuring hair length and height of family members.
- Encourages students to notice physical similarities and differences, and consider which traits may run in families.

### 5. Twin Study: Saroja and Suvasini
- Though identical in appearance, their lives are very different due to environment.
- Saroja lives in Pune with her chachi and speaks Marathi and Tamil; she loves music.
- Suvasini lives in Chennai with her father, a karate coach, and practices martial arts.
- Emphasizes how environment and upbringing shape our interests and abilities.

### 6. Traits vs. Skills
- Skills like singing, language, or martial arts are learned based on opportunity and environment.
- Traits like hair type or eye color are inherited.

### 7. Clarifying Inheritance and Health
- Satti had polio as a child. She fears it may pass to her children.
- The chapter clarifies that diseases like polio are caused by viruses and are not inherited.

### 8. Fun Class Activity: Which Traits Can You Do?
- A list of actions (like rolling tongue, moving ears) helps identify which abilities may be inherited.
- Children are encouraged to survey their classmates and family.

### 9. The Story of Gregor Mendel
- Mendel’s experiments with pea plants discovered that traits such as seed texture (smooth/rough), color (green/yellow), and height (tall/short) are inherited in fixed patterns.
- He found traits are passed in predictable ways and don’t blend in the next generation.

### 10. Nature and Nurture
- The chapter concludes by explaining that some parts of us come from our families (nature), while others are shaped by experiences and environment (nurture).

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## New Terms

| Term | Simple Definition |
|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Trait | A feature or quality like hair color or height that you may get from your family |
| Inherit | To get traits or features from your parents or ancestors |
| Environment | The place, people, and situations around you that affect how you grow and learn |
| Cousin | The child of your uncle or aunt |
| Polio | A disease caused by a virus that can affect the legs |
| Genes | Tiny parts inside cells that decide traits like eye color or height |
| Heredity | The process by which traits are passed from parents to children |
| Identical twins | Two babies born at the same time who look very similar |
| Monk | A religious man who lives a simple life, often in a monastery |
| Pulse Polio | A program where children are given medicine to protect them from polio |

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## Practice Questions

### Easy (3 Questions)

1. **Who did Ashima’s sneeze sound like?**
- **Answer**: It sounded like her father’s sneeze.
- **Explanation**: The story mentions that Ashima's mother mistook her sneeze for her father's.

2. **What type of hair does Nilima have and whom does it resemble?**
- **Answer**: Nilima has thick, curly, black hair like her nani.
- **Explanation**: Her mother mentions that Nilima’s hair is similar to her nani’s.

3. **Where does Suvasini live and what activity is she good at?**
- **Answer**: Suvasini lives in Chennai and is good at karate.
- **Explanation**: Her father is a karate coach and she has been practicing since she was three.

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### Medium (2 Questions)

4. **How did Saroja learn two languages?**
- **Answer**: She lives in Pune with her chachi, where Tamil is spoken at home and Marathi at school.
- **Explanation**: Exposure to different environments helped her learn both languages.

5. **Why was Satti worried about having children? What did the doctor say?**
- **Answer**: She feared her children might also get polio. The doctor explained that polio is caused by a virus and is not inherited.
- **Explanation**: This clarified that such diseases are not passed through family genes.

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### Difficult (3 Questions)

6. **What did Gregor Mendel discover about pea plants?**
- **Answer**: Traits like seed shape and color appear in specific forms and do not mix in the next generation.
- **Explanation**: His experiments showed that traits such as rough or smooth, yellow or green, stay distinct.

7. **How are Saroja and Suvasini similar and different?**
- **Answer**: They look alike but live in different places, have different hobbies, and speak different languages.
- **Explanation**: This shows how the environment shapes personality even among identical twins.

8. **What does the chapter say about traits and environment?**
- **Answer**: Some things are inherited from family, while others are learned from surroundings.
- **Explanation**: For example, loud talking could be due to hearing problems or just a habit.

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### Very Difficult (2 Questions)

9. **How did Mendel’s work become famous even though he failed his exams?**
- **Answer**: His experiments were understood and appreciated many years after his death by other scientists.
- **Explanation**: His detailed work on plant traits laid the foundation for modern genetics.

10. **Why is it important to understand which traits are inherited and which are learned?**
- **Answer**: It helps in understanding ourselves better and avoids believing in myths like inherited diseases.
- **Explanation**: Recognizing this difference empowers better learning and health decisions.

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