genetic handedness

*GENETIC HANDEDNESS

*QUESTION

*Do parent’s dominate hand determine their child’s dominate hand?

*PURPOSE

*The purpose of my investigation is to determine if a parent’s dominate hand will determine their child’s dominate hand. This is important to know because most companies make items for a righty. Should companies make items for a lefty? Or are there not enough left handed people to be worth it? My investigation will determine this.

*HYPOTHESIS

*I hypothesize that a child will become left handed more often if one or more of their parents are left handed and vice versa. I believe this because if you are to become a lefty, your parents must have some recessive genes to give you. If a parent is left handed, they have to give you a recessive gene. Then you have a better chance of becoming a lefty.

*PROCEDURE

*I think the best way to test this is to interview lots of students and ask them the dominate hand of both of their parents and themselves. Then I can make an average of how many children become a lefty depending on their parents. Or if a parent is a lefty , what percentage of kids become left handed. I will count a boy to be more like his father and a girl to be more like her mother.

*MATERIALS

*No materials needed.

*VARIABLES

*MANIPULATED VARIABLE: The person being asked.*RESPONDING VARIABLE: Whether subjects

handedness is the same as their parents.*CONSTANT VARIABLE: Subjects must have

both a mother and a father. They also have to know whether their parents are left or right handed.

*DIRECTIONS

1.Ask a female test subjects if they are right or left handed.2.Record response.3.Repeat, but ask about mother.4.Repeat, but ask about father.5.Repeat steps 1-3 with 1 more female.6.Repeat steps 1-3 with 2 males.7.Repeat steps 1-5 for 4 more trials.8.Calculate percentage of test subjects who match their mother, father, both, or neither.

*PHOTOGRAPH

*DATA CHART

HANDEDNESS   TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2 TRIAL 3 TRIAL 4 TRIAL 5 AVERAGE

PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE TEST

SUBJECTS HAVE THE SAME HANDEDNESS AS

THEIR FATHER

100 100 50 50 100 80

PERCENTAGE FEMALE OF TEST SUBJECTS

HAVE THE SAME HANDEDNESS AS THEIR

MOTHER

100 100 50 50 100 80

PERCENTAGE OF MALE TEST SUBJECTS HAVE

THE SAME HANDEDNESS AS THEIR

FATHER

50 100 100 50 100 80

PERCENTAGE OF MALE TEST SUBJECTS HAVE

THE SAME HANDEDNESS AS THEIR

MOTHER

50 100 100 50 50 70

*GRAPH

*CONCLUSION

My hypothesis was incorrect. A parents dominate hand does not determine their child’s dominate hand. The average amount of female test subjects that have the same handedness as their father is 80%. The average amount of female test subjects that have the same handedness as their mother is 80%. The average amount of male test subjects that have the same handedness as their father is 80%. The average amount of male test subjects that have the same handedness as their mother is 70%. If I was going to do this experiment again, I would test the connection between children’s dominate hands and their grandparent’s dominate hands.