Coin Sex Lab
- What did you do in this lab? How did coins serve as a model for genetics concepts?
- Compare your expected results with actual results in your dihybrid cross simulation. To what can you attribute these results? (ie, make a claim and back it with reasoning).
- What is the limit of using probability to predict our offspring’s traits?
- How does understanding this relate to your life? Be specific
In this lab we predicted the outcomes of different types of crosses, by flipping coins to get phenotype. Each coin represented an gene, such as hair color, each side of the coin, heads and tails, represented alleles, such as blonde hair color or brown hair color.
We worked in partner groups and each person was given either 1 or two coins. Each person represented a parent and each person's coins represented the genes of each parent. When one person flipped their coins in the air, it represented meiosis.
The process of putting together the coin flip outcomes and showing them in terms of phenotype , that process simulated, sex or recombination.
We simulated multiple different crosses, including mono hybrid, and dihybrid crosses. For our dihybrid cross simulation, we received different than expected results. Because we only flipped these coins 10 times, the results were a bit skewed due to lack of testing, but the main reason was that the resulting phenotype of any cross at the end is, - random.
This creates a limit for using probability to predict our offspring's traits. Although we may be able to assume our offspring have a better chance of getting a specific trait, in the end it is all random, so we can never be 100 percent sure that our offspring will receive a certain trait. This is mainly because of Gregor Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment.
This lab relates to my life, because it educated me a lot about how traits get passed on and how we cannot predict it. All my life, I have always assumed that I have gotten my traits from just my mom and my dad, but now I know that is not true. Traits can skip generations, because of the randomness in Mendel's law of Independent Assortment. I also know now that I cannot predict what traits anybody's offspring might have.
In this unit we learned all about genetics, sexual vs asexual reproduction, cell growth and cell division, inheritance - autosomal vs X Linked, etc. We also learned about dominance vs recessive, and how sometimes there are exceptions and complications to every rule. In the instance of dominant vs recessive, some of the exceptions were codominance and incomplete dominance. We learned about mitosis, meiosis, and spent a lot of time comparing the two, their similarities and their differences.
One of my strengths in this unit was punnent squares. It was generally really easy for me to visualize the results, however I did not always get expected results in the punnent square or in any of our labs. That was probably one of my greatest weaknesses - assuming something would happen without testing it first. Time and time again in this unit my hypothesis was proven wrong when I actually tested out my work. Another one of my weaknesses was understanding the law of Independent Assortment. I originally though that the phenotype of the parents is automatically passed on to the offspring, and I had a hard time understanding that the recessive allele, the one parents are carriers for but don't exhibit, has the same chance to be passed on to the offspring as the dominant alleles.
Our genetics infographic really helped solidify my understanding of some concepts. The research portion, especially finding images allowed me to look at different sources and see different persepctives about concepts. I feel like this was one of the units I understood the best, because of the infographic.
I would love to learn more about genetic exceptions and complications, especially mutlifactorial disorders. Is there a way to mask the multifactorial disorder, and how badly can the environment affect a persons to change their behavior? Is there a way to predict multifactorial disorders, and what are ways to fix them?
My VARK Questionnaire scores were:
- Visual: 18
- Aural: 15
- Read/Write: 16
- Kinesthetic: 15
You have a multimodal learning preference. (VARK)
Most of the above results did not surprise me, as I have always been able to grasp ideas in many different ways, however, I was extremely surprised that the best way of learning for me was visual. I always thought physical activity or reading was my best way of grasping knowledge.
Because of this, I am going to use many videos, and diagrams to quiz myself in reparation for my upcoming test. I generally read textbook, articles online in preparation for tests, but hopefully my new idea of visual learning will help me better.
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| Dihyrbid Cross |
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| The Law of Independent Assortment |
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