A unit of instruction for producing or influencing a specific trait in offspring. Genes control all of the traits that any living organism possesses. Genes contain the hereditary information that is passed from one generation to the next.
Genes contain instructions for making proteins.
Genes are located on chromosomes in the cell. Genes are made up of building blocks call nucleic acids. The information is specified by the order of the building blocks. The popular press and media are good sources of current topics that may be of interest to students. True cases which can be used to generate a few open ended, ethical questions work well.