Summary
Genes and DNA are very abstract concepts for students. In order to "hook" them in, I open my genetics and evolution unit with human genetics, specifically looking at the variations in human traits. This allows students' natural curiosity about their identity to draw them into the study of heredity. There are lots of great single gene traits with simple dominance inheritance patterns to explore: earlobe attachment, tongue rolling, cleft chin, etc. There are some polygenic traits that can be explored: hair color, eye color, reach, reaction time, etc. Hair texture (curly, wavy, vs. straight) offers a good example of incomplete dominance. After collecting information from themselves and two others, the population data is collected on several large charts in order to look for and discuss the patterns.
Objectives
Can describe human traits.
Can distinguish between single gene and polygenic traits.
Can use tables to organize data and create histograms to graphically represent data.
Can identify patterns in data and draw conclusions from those patterns.
Vocabulary
Characteristic
Trait
Gene
Polygenic
Histogram
