Asexual and sexual reproduction in organisms
Integrated ScienceLife ProcessesAges 12–13Virtual lab
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Life Processes
Play a four-step animation of one reproduction method: stem cutting, air layering, or budding in Hydra (asexual), or pollination – fertilization – seed and fruit formation in a flowering plant (sexual). Each round produces a generation of offspring, drawn with three gene pairs controlling flower color, leaf shape, and height. A comparison table counts how many offspring are identical to the mother plant and how many distinct genotypes appear, showing that asexual reproduction gives offspring identical to the parent while sexual reproduction creates varied offspring. An Asexual methods lab screen adds microscope-style animations of binary fission in Amoeba, multiple fission in Plasmodium, budding in yeast and Hydra, spore formation in bread mould, fragmentation in Spirogyra, regeneration in Planaria and vegetative propagation by potato tubers and Bryophyllum leaf buds; a table counts the identical offspring generation by generation, and a task asks you to identify an unknown slide.
Lesson: Asexual and sexual reproduction
What it shows
Asexual and sexual reproduction are compared through the offspring's genes. In asexual reproduction new individuals grow from one parent by mitosis, so every offspring carries the parent's genotype: they are clones. The Asexual methods lab shows binary and multiple fission, budding, spore formation, fragmentation, regeneration and vegetative propagation by tubers and leaf buds, and counts the clone generation by generation. In a flowering plant, fertilization fuses a male and a female gamete; because gene pairs segregate in meiosis and gametes combine at random, AaBbDd × AaBbDd can give up to 27 genotypes. Variation helps populations cope with change; cloning is faster.
How to use
On Asexual vs sexual, press Produce a generation, follow the four steps and compare the offspring genotypes; Change method switches the organism. On Asexual methods lab, choose an Organism and method, set Fragments or Pieces cut where available, press Run or Step and watch each generation add a row to the table. For the tasks, press Show an unknown slide, choose its method and press Check, then answer the counting question.
Parameters you can change
- Reproduction type Asexual (no gamete fusion), Sexual (pollination and fertilization)
- Organism and method Water spinach – stem cutting, Pomelo – air layering, Hydra – budding, Flowering bean plant – pollination, fertilization
- Number of offspring per generation 4–24 individuals
- Animation speed 0.3–2 steps/s
- Show each offspring's genotype
- Screen Asexual vs sexual, Asexual methods lab
- Organism and asexual method (lab screen) Amoeba – binary fission, Plasmodium – multiple fission, Yeast – budding, Hydra – budding, Bread mould (Rhizopus) – spores, Spirogyra – fragmentation, Planaria – regeneration, Potato – tubers, Bryophyllum – leaf buds
- Fragments, pieces, tuber eyes or leaf buds 2–6 pieces
Questions to explore
- Why do growers propagate fruit trees by air layering rather than by sowing seeds?
- How can the variety of sexually produced offspring help a population when the environment changes?
- What type of reproduction is budding in Hydra, and what do the offspring genotypes show?
