warmup 11/2/15 how would you explain genetics (so far) to a 5th grader? objective tonight’s...

Warmup 11/2/15

How would you explain genetics (so far) to a 5th grader?

Objective Tonight’s Homework

To see how genotype and phenotype apply

pp 127: 2, 5Finish the “odds” for your kid

Making a Kid Using Genetics

In this activity, you’ll be pairing up with a friend and combining traits to make a kid. One of you will be “mom” and the other will be “dad”. Choose however you want. Each of you is going to choose what your genes are. Then, you’ll randomly combine them to see what kind of kid they make. Afterwards, you’ll use what you know about genetics to explain the odds. To start, get out a piece of paper and tear it in half. One half goes to mom, the other to dad. As mom and dad, you and your partner need to go through the list on the next slide and pick 1 choice from each of the options presented.


COLORBLINDNESS (sex-linked)Colorblindness in some form affects about 10% of all men. It’s much rarer in women.

Mom: pick one of the following groups:

Dad: pick one of the following groups:

XG XG XG Xg Xg Xg

Not colorblind Not colorblind colorblind

XG Y Xg Y

Not colorblind colorblind


BALDNESS (sex-linked)This affects men much more than women and is sometimes called “male pattern baldness”.

Mom: pick one of the following groups:

Dad: pick one of the following groups:

XB XB XB Xb Xb Xb

Not balding Not balding balding

XB Y Xb Y

Not balding balding


BLOOD TYPE (Multiple alleles)Each of you pick one of the following groups:

IA IB IA i IB i i i

Type AB Type A Type B Type O


HAIR COLOR (Multiple alleles)Each of you pick one of the following groups:

HBR HBR HBR hbl HBR HBL hbl hbl HBR hr

brown Lt. brown Dk. brown blonde copper

HBL hbl HBL HBL hbl hr HBL hr hr hr

Dk. blonde black strawberry auburn red


HEIGHT (multiple gene interaction)Each picks a mix of capital and lowercase letters for “AABBCC”. The more capital letters, the taller your kid. The more lowercase, the shorter.

Ex: aabbcc = pretty much a midget AaBbCc or AABbcc or AAbBcc, etc = average AABBCC = basketball superstar

SKIN COLOR (multiple gene interaction)Each picks a mix of capital and lowercase letters for “XXYYZZ”. The more capital letters, the darker your kid. The more lowercase, the lighter.

Ex: xxyyzz = super white. Like Sweden or Ireland XxYyZz or XXYyzz or XXyYzz, etc = brown-skinned XXYYZZ = very dark black skin


EYE COLOR (multiple gene interaction)Each pick one of the following groups:

AA BB AA Bb Aa BB Aa Bb aa BB aa Bb

brown brown brown brown hazel hazel

AA bb Aa bb aa bb

green green blue


(incomplete dominance)Each parent, pick one from each of the following groups:Eyebrows E E E e e e

separate slight merge unibrow

Face Shape F F F f f f

square oval round

Hair Type H H H h h h

straight wavy curly


(incomplete dominance)Each parent, pick one from each of the following groups:Mouth Size M M M m m m

Large Medium Small

Nose Size / Ear Size A A A a a a

Large Medium Small

Body Shape B B B b b b

Skinny Normal Big Boned


(dominant-recessive)Each parent, pick one from each of the following groups:Max Hair Length L L L l l l

Unlimited Unlimited Shoulder blades

Vision V V V v v v

Good Good Need Glasses

Body Hair R R R r r r

Hairy Normal Hairless


Now you’re ready to put together your genes to make a kid. To start, the dad is going to flip the coin.

If it comes up heads, it’s a boy. If it comes up tails, it’s a girl. (Sorry moms, your genes don’t determine gender.)

Next, get another piece of paper. Make 5 columns. One called “trait”, one called “mom”, one called “dad”, one called “kid”, and one called “odds”.

In the “trait” column, write down the name of each of the genes we just went over.


You should now have this:TraitColorblindBaldnessBlood TypeHair ColorHeightSkin ColorEye ColorEyebrowsFace ShapeHair TypeMouth SizeNose / EarBody Shape……

Mom Dad Kid Odds


You’re going to go through each trait. For each one, mom and dad have to flip coins. If your coin flip comes up positive, you pick the first of your 2 letters to add to the kid. If it comes up tails, you add the second letter.

Example: Eye color

Mom has Aa bB – brown eyesDad has aa bb – blue eyes

Mom’s flip comes up heads, so she uses AMom flips again and gets heads again, so she uses bDad’s flip comes up tails, so he uses aDad’s second flip comes up heads, so he uses bCombine these for the kid to get – Aa bb – green eyes


On the sex-linked ones, dad doesn’t flip a coin. If they have a girl, he uses just his “X” gene. If they have a boy, he just uses his “Y” gene.

For height and skin color, you’ll flip like normal for A, B, and C, and X, Y, and Z and then just put them all together.

Ex: Mom = AABbCc Dad = aaBBCCMom flips: heads (A), tails (b), and tails (c)Dad flips: tails(a), tails (B), heads (C)

So the kid will be: AaBbCc


When you’re done getting all the way through your list, you need to name your kid, do a drawing of them on the back of your paper, and put your names on it.

Your homework is going to be filling in the “odds” column.

Mom Dad Kid OddsEx: IA IB IB i IB IB 25%

To get the odds, make a punnet square and tell me the chance of getting what you got. Make sureto turn in your work aswell, so Mr. C. can check!

IA IB

IB IA IB IB IB

i IA i IB i

Exit Question

If you mix dominant and recessive genes, which wins?

a) The recessive oneb) The dominant onec) They mix evenlyd) It depends on what kind of gene it is

warmup 11/2/15 how would you explain genetics (so far) to a 5th grader? objective tonight’s...

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