Knowledge and Understanding

Pupils know :

• genes are pieces of information passed on from generation to generation

• genes carry information which determine the appearance of an organism

• two genes are present in an individual for a characteristic

• one gene is inherited from the mother and one from the father

• a dominant gene shows in the appearance of an individual

• a recessive gene does not show if present with a dominant gene

• understand that a card with a letter represents a gene

• how to predict the appearance from the genes chosen.

Some pupils understand:

• the random assortment of genes

Skills

Carrying out the task

• pupils should be able to select appropriate techniques to collect information (level D)
• make labelled and annotated sketches (level D)

VOCABULARY

GENE, CHARACTERISTIC, DOMINANT, RECESSIVE, GENERATION.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES
 

MAKE A PET RABBIT

Teacher Instructions

1. Photocopy allele templates onto cards or alternatively onto paper and laminate.

2. Make at least forty alleles for each characteristic for a set of twenty pupils.

3. Cut out separate alleles and put the alleles for the same characteristic in a container which will represent the gene pool -- all the alleles for that gene present in a population.

4. Label the containers with the characteristic e.g. height, fur length, size of ears, coat colour and size of tail.

Pupils can select two alleles from each container to represent allele passed on by each parent.

Pupil instructions

Select two alleles for each characteristic from the gene pool cups.

• Write your choice of alleles on your record sheet.

• Decide on the appearance of your rabbit

• Draw your rabbit

Alternative Instructions

Step 1

Determine the sex of your rabbit by flipping a coin.

• Heads = a female rabbit        Tails = a male rabbit

Step 2

• Working in pairs go down the list of phenotypes (features of the rabbit).

• To determine which form of the gene you will contribute, flip a coin

Heads produce the dominant form of the gene (capital letter).

Tails produce the recessive form of the gene (lower case letter).

• Both of you must flip the coin to determine the gene your rabbit will have.

• Complete the table and then draw what your rabbit looks like!

RABBIT FEATURES
 

1. Height TT,                 Tt = Tall             tt= small

2. Fur length LL,             Ll = long            ll = short

3. Size of ears                EE, Ee = big       ee = small

4. Coat colour                 BB, Bb = black    bb = white

5. Size of tail                  FF, Ff = large      ff = small
 

ALLELES

FOR COAT COLOUR
 

for Ear Length

Alleles for Fur Length

Alleles for Height

Alleles for Size of Tail