Background Information

Activities

General Outline

  1. Introduce Mendel and the history of his pea experiments using monohybrid crosses
    1. Introduce true-breeding/purebreed
    2. Introduce F1 and F2
    3. Sexual reproduction of plants
    4. Describe Mendelā€™s statistics background as a failed teacher in noting the 3:1 ratios observed to illustrate the quantitative nature of genetics (Quantitative Reasoning)
    5. Compare and contrast the findings of Mendelā€™s ā€œparticlesā€ to what we call genes and the relationship to molecular biology as we know it (Structure & Function, Information Flow, Integration of Knowledge)
    6. Simplify the monohybrid cross and run through the Punnett square with examples and introduce the concepts of SEGREGATION and DOMINANCE (Quantitative Reasoning, Process of Science, Visual Communication)
      • Homozygous/heterozygous/dominant/recessive
  2. Speak of the concurrent voyage of the HMS Beagle by Darwin and illustrate the ignorance of these findings until the 1910s where the resurgence of Mendelian inheritance and evolution by natural selection became formalized in experimental biology (Evolution, Interdisciplinary Nature of Science, Science & Society, Process of Science)
  3. Count corn for monohybrid cross (Quantitative Reasoning, Integration of
    Knowledge    , Process of Science, Visual Communication)
  4. Introduce the idea of multiple traits and subsequent inheritance patterns
    1. Dihybrid cross
    2. Independent assortment
    3. Count corn for dihybrid cross (Quantitative Reasoning, Integration of
      Knowledge      , Process of Science, Visual Communication)
  5. Perform the PTC paper test and tally the results of the class
    1. If numbers are low or strange, find results from an adjacent lab
    2. Have a student demonstrate a Punnett square for PTC tasting with the explanation of the alleles and phenotypes (should be roughly 3:1 with a 1:2:1 ratio) (Quantitative Reasoning, Integration of Knowledge)
    3. Perform the central dogma exercise ā€œEncoding Bitternessā€ (Information Flow, Integration of Knowledge, Visual Communication)
  6. Probability and chi-square analysis (Quantitative Reasoning, Integration of Knowledge)
    1. Perform coin flipping exercise as a class and introduce probability and chi-square
    2. Should be performed in conjunction with the corn counts
    3. Corn counts and chi-square are useful for a last lab report or for homework due to time
  7. Non-Mendelian inheritance
    1. Sex-linked genes (Structure & Function, Evolution, Interdisciplinary Nature of Science, Science & Society, Process of Science, Visual Communication)
      1. Run through Ishahara tests as a class
      2. Queen Victoria case study as class
      3. Barr bodies
      4. Brief introduction of epigenetics
    2. Co-dominance (optional)
    3. Multiple alleles (optional)
    4. Incomplete dominance (optional)
  8. Epistasis and gene interactions (optional)

Curricular Notes

This unit covers the NSF Vision & Change Core Competencies:

  1. Quantitative Reasoning: probability, statistics, chi-square
  2. Science & Society: case studies, genetic diseases
  3. Interdisciplinary Nature of Science: quantitative methods
  4. Process of Science: corn counting and empirical exercises
  5. (Visual) Communication: Punnett squares, sex-linkage

This unit covers the NSF Vision & Change Core Concepts:

  1. Structure & Function: DNA base complementarity , genes and genetics
  2. Information Flow: transcription, translation, genes, epistasis
  3. Evolution: unifying principle of biology with natural selection, genetics

This unit covers additional General Education competency:

  1. Life-long Learning
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