Students learned to construct and analyze the products of a dihybrid cross (two-trait Punnett Square) today. We worked through the entry task slide using the white boards and document camera in class to ensure student understanding of the process. Slides 3-7 of the attached PowerPoint deck were not presented in class, but are included as an example for students needing to review. Students then had the remainder of the class period to complete the dihybrid cross worksheet.
All posts by David Swart
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Modeling Meiosis
Class began with a “pop quiz” – an entry task designed to serve multiple purposes. First, students were tasked with thinking about whether they thought there was a relationship between males, females, dominant alleles, and recessive alleles. After some private think/write time, students followed the structured partner talk protocol, sharing their understanding and then engaging in a respectful debate if needed. After a class share-out that included a review of key unit vocabulary terms, students learned that although dominant and recessive alleles are not linked to a particular parent, there are examples of sex-linked conditions like color-blindness. We finished with an activity in which students used the purple books to model the process of meiosis. Many students used Play-Doh and a few were able to create stop-motion videos of the process using the cell phones. Slides for the lesson can be viewed here.
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Meiosis Refresher
We kicked off 4th quarter with a review of content covered during the first week of the Meiosis Unit. After a one-week interruption by Spring Break, students watched the Crash Course meiosis video (below), focusing on crossing over and homologous recombination. We wrapped up with a vocabulary review. Slides for today can be downloaded here.
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: End of Q3
Today marked the end of third quarter. With the short class period, students had the option of working quietly on any missing assignments or watching a video. As the recent proud recipients of a grant from the Southwest King School Retirees Association, students will soon have access to two Arduino microprocessors, some accessory components, and two books for learning to program the Arduino in the classroom. To introduce students to the Arduino and to connect the technology back (at least tangentially!) with our current unit of study (it’s a stretch, but we have been talking a lot about plant genetics), students watched a video about how Arduino technology can be integrated with aquaponics to power a highly productive garden. The video, as well as more about the Arduino, can be found on the Disruptive Innovations: Arduino page on this website.
Have a wonderful Spring Break!
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Meiosis Reading
In our last full day before Spring Break, students revisited their Punnett Square work from yesterday. Focusing on question #2 from the worksheet, students were challenged to write a paragraph summarizing the question and its answer using the following 7 vocabulary words: phenotype, genotype, dominant, recessive, allele, homozygous, and heterozygous. Students then shared their paragraph with their table partner as explained in the slides for today. Finally, students read the second half of chapter 4 in the Inside the Cell book.
Crossing Over Play-Doh Model:
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Punnett Squares
Students worked with partners to complete a single-trait Punnett Square worksheet. After working through the first question together (example below), students were presented with slides of key vocabulary and examples of the organisms discussed in questions 8 and 9. The degree of student collaboration and prior knowledge was impressive! Students who completed the worksheet early were challenged to construct a 2-trait Punnett Square (exampes below).
Worksheet question 1:
Example #1 of 2-trait Punnett Square:
Example #2 of 2-trait Punnett Square:
Reproduction, Inheritance, and Meiosis: Mendel’s Pea Plants
We kicked off the new unit with a primer on heredity (courtesy of Crash Course – see below) and a historical tour of Gregor Mendel’s contribution to the field of genetics. Slides for the day can be downloaded here. I am thrilled that much of the discussion around Punnett Squares, as well as some of the vocabulary, are review for many of my students. All students are encouraged to continue practicing unit vocabulary via the Quizlet link.
Mitosis: Mitosis project presentations – Day 3
With a group or two in most classes still needing to present their work, today was a catch-up and review day. In addition to the presentations, students worked in groups to create concept maps summarizing the major concepts from all of the presentations. They also wrote thank you letters to the retired teacher who so kindly donated several decades worth of science magazines to our classroom last fall. We will transition from mitosis to the study of reproduction, inheritance, and meiosis tomorrow.
Mitosis: Mitosis project presentations – Day 2
Another great day of student presentations! Projects ranged from a game created by students (to simultaneously model the process of mitosis and the effect of alcohol on the liver) to solidly constructed PowerPoint presentations. Because of the short periods and absent students, we will conclude presentations on Monday.
Below are videos identified by students who presented on muscle growth and repair, as well as the effect of smoking on the lungs.
Mitosis project presentations – Day 1
What a great first day of presentations! I was very impressed with the way student groups successfully distilled several days of intense research into 7-10 minute high quality presentations. Examples of student work are available below:
Prezi presentation about cancer and metastasis
A silent film created by my students and posted to YouTube explaining the connection between mitosis and limb regeneration in salamanders and newts:
Science with Swart 
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