2. Making Babies - Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan

1. Make sure each student has their “Human Traits Survey” completed and available.
2. Pass out the “Making Babies” handout and assign partners for the activity.
3. Read through the first page together, answering any questions students may have. Work through a couple examples of going from genotype to phenotype and back again with different traits. “If you cannot roll your tongue, what is your genotype?” “If your genotype is Rr for tongue rolling, what is your phenotype?”
4. Help students fill in the table on page 2 with their phenotype and genotype. If the student has the dominant trait, assume that they are heterozygous unless they know for SURE that no relative has the recessive trait.
5. Next, make gametes. Between the partners, one should make sperm, the other should make eggs. Each person will make 2 gametes by flipping a coin for each gene. We are assuming that the genes are not linked (even though hair color and eye color genes are, in fact, linked).
6. Finally, students can create 2 babies by combining sperm #1 with egg #1 and combining sperm #2 with egg #2. Beside the genotype/phenotype descriptions, students should draw a picture of their children in color as they would appear in middle school.