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Garden peas and cabbage plants: A short 'de-simplified genetics' activity

Author(s): Pamela Kalas

University of British Columbia

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Summary:
Are plants of genotype T/T tall? Are those of genotype t/t short? Let's find out in this short activity entirely based on a segment of: Smith's (2014) "It’s Not Your Grandmother’s Genetics Anymore!"

Description

This ready-to-use activity comes in the form of a short, editable slide deck composed of clicker questions, a "big reveal", and presenter's notes for instructors. It is entirely based on, and inspired from, an article from The American Biology Teacher (Smith, 2014). It emphasizes the role of environment in phenotypic variation using the striking example of plants that are homozygous for Mendel's t allele (thus expected to be short), but grow very tall due to treatment with giberellins.

The activity is suitable for introductory biology/genetics lessons.

Article cited: Smith, M.U. (2014). It’s Not Your Grandmother’s Genetics Anymore! The American Biology Teacher 76(4): 224–229. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2014.76.4.2

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