Students flip coins to determine traits for their smiley faces in this “Genetics with a Smile” (pdf) activity. Directions for using Microsoft Word drawing tools are here (doc), wrap-up activities are here (pdf), and teacher instructions are here (pdf).
Try these “Genetics with Sponge Bob” worksheets: “Genetics with Sponge Bob” (pdf), “Genetics with Sponge Bob 2” (pdf), “Sponge Bob Genetics–Incomplete Dominance” (pdf), and “Sponge Bob Genetics Quiz” (pdf).
Do the “World of Genetics” Wordsearch Puzzle (pdf).
Show NOVA’s “Life’s Greatest Miracle” videos using Quicktime or Real Player and have students answer the questions in this worksheet. The entire video can be ordered as a DVD at the PBS Store or Amazon.com.
Have students do Mrs. Rebello’s “Online Research fo a Genetic Disorder” (doc).
This version, called “Plastic Egg Genetics” (pdf), includes a student worksheet.
Genetic Science Learning Center’s “A Tree of Genetic Traits” is a good middle school activity.
Another good middle school activity is Genetic Science Learning Center’s “A Recipe for Traits” (pdf). In this activity, by randomly choosing strips of paper that represent DNA, students create then decode a “DNA recipe” to complete a drawing of a dog.
In “Generations of Traits,” (pdf) a hands-on activity from Genetic Science Learning Center, students track and record the passage of colored “pom-pom traits” through three generations of ginger-bread people. It’s a good middle school introduction to pedigrees.
Students explore “Bioengineered Foods?” in this Teacher’s Domain (You must register for free to access.) lesson. It includes videos, readings and flash animations.
“Ethical Issues in the Human Genome Project” is another Teacher’s Domain lesson that includes videos, readings, and a “Should We Create Babies by Design?” interactive poll.
Another Teacher’s Domain lesson is “The Human Genome Project.” This lesson again includes videos, Flash and Shockwave interactives, and instructions for a Jeopardy review game.
This “Marshmallow Meiosis” (pdf) lab is a “Breeding Rebops” lab.
Adapted from “Breeding Rebops,”, “The Inheritance Patterns in Dragons” (doc) has students create a dragon (of the Harry Potter books fame) from the chromosomes of both parents. The original activity was created by Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science. I simply added the chromosomes to it.
Rodger Moore from Wooster High School in Reno, NV developed three great “Zork Genetics” activities. The activities, “Zork Genetics” (doc), “More Zork Genetics” (doc), and “Zork Inheritance” (doc), should be done in conjunction with one another, but it is not necessary. You can email Rodger at home, [email protected], or at school, [email protected], if you have any questions about the activities.
Show the movie “Lorenzo’s Oil,” about a boy who develops a genetic disease so rare that nobody was working on a cure when the movie was made. I was informed that Nicole Baumann, a French scientist who’s lab is at ‘lHopitale de la Salpetriere in Paris, is currently one of the few scientists doing research on the disease. Jim Marilley from the NSTA Listserve contributed this worksheet (doc) to accompany the movie along with this lesson plan (doc) and notes (doc) which were authored by the Executive Board of the Biology Teachers Association of NJ.
“The Roller Coaster of Genes” (ppt) is a clever PowerPoint about the inheritance of traits. It has music in the background with the words that Annette M. Parrott, the creator of the PowerPoint, wrote. Students can sing along as the presentation plays. (You may need to download the presentation and save it on your own computer for the music to play.)
“Genetics” (pdf) is a good tutorial and worksheet combined that covers many topics in genetics. These teacher notes (pdf) are included.
Tracie Schroeder from the NSTA Listserver provided this “Human Pedigrees” (doc) activity.
Try an activity called “Codon Analogies” (pdf) with answers (pdf).
Have students try this “Genetic Engineering” (doc) crossword puzzle with answers.
In this “Blood Typing” online game you have to blood type each patient and give them a blood transfusion.
“Bugsville” simulates the genetics of a quantitative character. The user can breed ladybugs to estimate the heritability of spot number, then conduct a selective breeding experiment to see if the heritability multiplied by the selection differential predicts the response to selection. It includes a tutorial and worksheet.
“Genetic Traits in Harry Potter” from the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine’s website is a very extensive lesson on gentics and the genetics of the Harry Potter characters. It includes PowerPoint presentations, student worksheets (in pdf and Word) and their explanation of the Magic ability shows the complexity of the trait to include what causes “Squibs,” those with magical parents who have little magical ability.
Explore the principles of Mendelian genetics with this “Dragon Genetics” Lab (pdf) with teacher notes (pdf).
Have students explore transgenic manipulation with this computer “Engineer a Crop: Transgenic Manipulation” simulation.
Use pennies to do this “How Well Does a Punnet Square Predict the Actual Ratios?” lab (pdf).
Uses pipecleaners and beads to show how genes and chromosomes are inherited in this “Pipecleaner Babies” lab. Includes teacher preparation notes.
Learn about the genetics of parethood by creating Aliens in the “Baby Boom” web lab.
Students flip pennies to determine the traits of their “children” and draw their faces in “The Genetics of Parenthood – FACE LAB” (pdf).
Or use this “Genotype to Phenotypye Simulation” (doc) booklet with these chromosomes (doc) to create your baby’s face. This is a slightly more advanced activity.
Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science also developed this “Inheritance and Blood Typing” (doc) lab. It includes the recipe for making the fake blood. They also produced this (ppt) presentation to accompany it.
In “Doing Your Lessons in Blood” students Identify which blood type a person would have based on their alleles, observe the alleles that an offspring would have and identify the blood types of the offspring, and use the observations and rules gleaned from this to predict the blood types of other offspring, when given the genotypes of their parents.
Try this “Gummy Bear Genetic” (pdf) lab from The Science Teacher.
In the “Making Babies: Blood Types Lab,” (doc), students use red, white, and blue beads to represent the alleles for blood types.
A good middle school lab is the “Genetics of Sesame Street Characters” (pdf). J.T. Sanders of the NSTA Listserve created this (doc) worksheet to go with the lab along with this (doc) one. You may also want to use these pictures of Sesame Street characters (doc).
Rodger Moore from Wooster High School in Reno, NV developed this “The Gene . . . That Changed the World” (ppt) for those who don’t have internet access in their classrooms.
To help teachers apply recent developments in genetic research to their life science curricula, Virginia Commonwealth University has assembled 50 video segments from the public television series, Secrets of the Sequence. to download and stream these materials, access: http://www.sosq.vcu.edu/.
An explanation for why some children do not have the blood phenotypes expected from the phenotypes of their parents (called the Bombay Phenotype): http://anthro.palomar.edu/blood/Bombay_pheno.htm
