Assignment Summary
For this assignment, you will create a model of asexual reproduction and a model of sexual reproduction.
To show the similarities, assume that both models represent a eukaryotic organism, or cells with nuclei.
You will then answer a few questions on the Student Worksheet to help you compare the two and
evaluate similarities and differences. Your final activity will be to write an essay that describes why
asexual reproduction results in offspring that are identical to the original and why sexual reproduction
results in diverse and unique offspring.
Background Information
Living things reproduce in two ways. Some reproduce by creating identical copies of themselves. This is
known as asexual reproduction. Budding, fragmentation, and binary fission are types of asexual
reproduction. Examples of organisms that reproduce asexually are hydra, bacteria, and planaria. Other
living things reproduce by joining male and female sex cells. This is called sexual reproduction. Sexual
reproduction allows for genetic differences between organisms of the same species. Examples of
organisms that reproduce sexually are angiosperms, dogs, and humans.
These two methods of reproduction involve a process in which the DNA is replicated and the cell divides.
For asexual reproduction, it is mitosis in eukaryotes; for prokaryotes, the method is similar to mitosis, but
without a nucleus. Sexual reproduction requires meiosis to create the sex cells. In both mitosis and
meiosis, before a cell can divide, the cell must grow in size and the DNA must be replicated. This phase is
called interphase. After cell division, whether it be mitosis or meiosis, the cytoplasm of the cell splits as
two new cells are formed. This is called cytokinesis. All the steps of the life of a cell, from interphase
through cytokinesis, are referred to as the cell cycle. Mitosis and meiosis differ in the number of divisions
that happen, the number of resulting cells produced, and how the resulting cells compare to the original
cells.