Tag: inheritance

  • Mutations and Evolution in Aquatic Mammals

    Mutations and Evolution in Aquatic Mammals

    Students examine a phylogenetic tree that reveals mutations found in aquatic mammals as evidence of convergent evolution.

  • How Do Bunny Populations Change Over Time?

    How Do Bunny Populations Change Over Time?

    A set of images show how rabbits change over time as a result of selective pressure from wolf predation. Students match each graphic with one of the four steps of evolution on the VIDA chart: variation, inheritance, differential survival, and adaptation.

  • Case Study: How Do Genes Determine Skin Color?

    Case Study: How Do Genes Determine Skin Color?

    This case study focuses on a news story whose headline declares that a “mother is a the only black woman to give birth to two white babies.”    Students look past the sensationalized headline to discover how skin color is controlled by multiple genes and make a final judgement about whether statements made in the…

  • Practice Genetics:  Sex Linked Genes

    Practice Genetics: Sex Linked Genes

    Students learn basic Mendelian genetics by crossing traits from fruit flies and pea plants.  In this extension, students can practice doing crosses that involve sex-linked traits, where the alleles are located on the X chromosome  which affects the pattern of inheritance.   This worksheet is designed for beginning biology students, as it provides in most…

  • Are Exit Tickets a Good Way to Assess Understanding?

    Are Exit Tickets a Good Way to Assess Understanding?

    My genetics unit for Freshman Biology always starts with a history lesson on Mendel and our understanding of heredity at that time.   One of the main themes of this lesson is a comparison between two ways of thinking about inheritance and two competing theories:    The Particulate Theory and the Blending Theory. Students struggle…