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"Marian and Vivian Brown" by Christopher Michel is licensedunder CC BY 2.0.

How Do I Look?By BirdBrain Science

2016

There are many factors that contribute to who a person becomes. In the text, the author discusses thedifferent influences responsible for shaping a human being. The two categories are nature and nurture. Asyou read, identify the differences between nature and nurture.

Have you ever wondered why you look the wayyou do? Do you ever think about what you aregoing to look like in five years, or in 25 years?When you were born, you didn’t look the way youdo today. In fact, when you were born, youprobably looked like a lot of other babies: small, abit round, no hair, no teeth and little chubby armsand legs. Although we start out looking like otherbabies, we all change and grow to look different,as we get older. Some people grow tall, and somedo not. Some people’s feet are bigger thanothers. Some people need glasses, and otherssee clearly. Some people have skin that issmooth, and some have skin that is wrinkled orfreckled. Some people seem to have strongmuscles and others look like they have nomuscles at all. We all look very different. Thereason for our differences involves both what wewere born with and what happens to us after weare born.

Some things about us are set before we are born. When a mother and father have a child, they givethings like eye color and hair color to their child. Traits are the parts of us, and all living things, that weget from our parents that make up what we look like. Traits are things like eye color, hair color, height,and whether our second toe is longer than our big toe. Let’s say a mother and father both have redhair. Their child will most likely have red hair too. Even if their child is born with no hair at all, you canmake a good guess that the hair that will grow will be red because his or her hair color is alreadydecided. It is a trait that the child’s parents passed along to their baby.

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Some things about us, though, are shaped by what happens after we are born. Imagine twin girls whoare born with the same exact traits: same hair, same eyes, and same size. As they grow up togetherthey will look alike, and most likely will sound alike. If they dress alike, too, it could be very hard to tellthem apart. Now think about what would happen if those twins spend their childhood living in twodifferent homes. One home might be in a very cold place and the other in a warm area. Then thesegirls would most likely wear different clothes, play different sports and eat different foods. They mighthave been born with the trait of having crooked teeth, but if one twin gets braces and the other doesnot, their smiles will end up looking very different. When they become adults, even though they wereborn with the same traits, the way they grew up may have changed them in some ways.Environmental influences are things in the world around us that change what we need and the waywe grow. Even if two people start out almost the same, like twins, where and how they live can changethe way they look as they grow up.

If twins who are born with many of the same traits can grow up to look different, then what is it thatreally makes us who we are? Believe it or not, scientists have been talking about this question forhundreds of years. Some believe that it is mostly the traits that we get from our parents that decidewho we are. They call this our nature, or all the parts we get from our parents that make up who weare when we are born. Think about making chocolate chip cookies. You need sugar, flour, butter, eggsand chocolate chips. The nature of the chocolate chip cookie comes from those ingredients that havebeen mixed together. If you use raisins instead of chocolate chips, they would no longer be chocolatechip cookies. They would be raisin cookies. Your nature is all of your body’s ingredients put together.They are the parts and pieces of you that you have when you enter the world. If you change one ofthem, like the chocolate chips and the raisins, then you would be different too.

However, we know from our look at those twins that a person’s nature can be changed by where theylive and the way they grow up. Nurture is the way the world around us acts upon us and changes usas we live and grow. Over the years, many people have believed that this is what really decides who weare, no matter what we have in us when we are born. They thought that we could raise a child tobecome just what we wanted him or her to be.

Let’s go back to that cookie. We know the nature of the cookie, or all the stuff that goes into it, butthat’s only the first part of what your cookie will be like. Once you have everything mixed together, youshape the cookie dough into balls, put them on the baking sheet and place it in the oven. The heat ofthe oven bakes the dough, and the cookie becomes flat and round. Now, if you put that cookie doughinto a square-shaped pan, it would not come out round. The shape of the pan, or the cookie’senvironment, changes the way the cookie “grows up.” You get two different looking chocolate chipcookies, even though all the ingredients are the same. Now make believe that you are the cookie. Yournature might say that your feet will grow to be a certain size, but if you grow up wearing shoes that aretoo small for you, your feet might not reach their full size. You can change the way your feet grow justby wearing the wrong size shoe!

As these two ideas of nature and nurture have been studied over the years, many people have come toagree that both are very important to how we grow and who we become. What we get from ourparents forms the beginning of what we are going to look like and act like. It has a hand in how we lookat the world and how the world looks at us. However, the place where we live and the way we grow upmatters very much as well. What we go through in our lives and the way the world changes us plays abig part in how we become who we are.

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"How Do I Look?", © 2016, BirdBrain. Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved.

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Text-Dependent QuestionsDirections: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which statement best identifies the central idea of the text?A. The traits your parents pass down to you are more responsible for the person

you become than outside influences.B. Outside influences, such as where you grow up and the way you grow up, have a

stronger impact on the person you become than traits passed down by yourparents.

C. While the traits your parents pass down help make you who you are, outsideinfluences also play an important role.

D. Scientists are completely unsure of how nurture and nature combine to makepeople who they are.

2. PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A?A. “The reason for our differences involves both what we were born with and what

happens to us after we are born.” (Paragraph 1)B. “When a mother and father have a child, they give things like eye color and hair

color to their child.” (Paragraph 2)C. “If twins who are born with many of the same traits can grow up to look

different, then what is it that really makes us who we are?” (Paragraph 4)D. “As these two ideas of nature and nurture have been studied over the years...”

(Paragraph 7)

3. PART A: How does paragraph 3 contribute to the development of ideas in the text?A. It contrasts the traits of nature and nurture.B. It challenges the idea that nurture strongly influences the person you become.C. It gives examples of how outside influences can impact the person you become.D. It shows that the influences of nature and nurture are easier to study in twins.

4. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?A. “Let’s say a mother and father both have red hair. Their child will most likely

have red hair too.” (Paragraph 2)B. “As they grow up together they will look alike, and most likely will sound alike.”

(Paragraph 3)C. “One home might be in a very cold place and the other in a warm area. Then

these girls would most likely wear different clothes...” (Paragraph 3)D. “Some believe that it is mostly the traits that we get from our parents that

decide who we are.” (Paragraph 4)

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[RI.4][RI.5]5. Why does the author compare nature and nurture to baking cookies? What isthe effect of this?

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Discussion QuestionsDirections: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared toshare your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. What environmental influences have contributed to shaping the person you are today?

2. Why is it important to consider both traits and environmental influences when studying thedevelopment of people?

3. In the context of the article, what makes you who you are? In your opinion, are traits orenvironmental influences more important in shaping who a person becomes? Cite evidencefrom this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

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