Eye Color and Polygenic Inheritance—Student Laboratory Kit

Product Details

Students are intrigued to learn exactly why they often exhibit traits similar to their parents. By performing this straightforward mathematical and visual example, students are able to thoroughly grasp complex genetic concepts. This activity simulates eye color as it would be inherited through three generations assuming independent assortment of the genes and polygenic inheritance. Students complete a family pedigree featuring the number of dominant alleles each individual inherited from their parents. The dominant and recessive alleles are represented by two different colored bingo chips. The number of dominant alleles each person inherits is determined by the number of dominant alleles drawn from the paper bag containing the alleles of each parent. Watch the excitement build as students visualize the concrete differences in the number of dominant alleles inherited by recreating their pedigree by mixing using two different color solutions drop-wise in a reaction plate. Kit includes enough materials for 30 students working in pairs or 15 groups of students, reproducible student handouts and detailed Teacher Notes. 96-well reaction plates required but not included.