Laura Houlihan
SIUC/Hackneys
IL

Learning Genetics with Paper Pets

Wed, Jun 29, 2011 7:57 PM
Fun Way to Teach and Learn Genetics

Valerie Raunig Finnerty elegantly explains how to use paper pets to describe and teach genetics to her eighth grade students. In the article, she not only explains the process, but she also provides one with the directions she used including valuable charts the students created and filled out while doing this great hands-on activity. The students first created their paper pets by starting with their homozygous parent generation. The students then had to breed their pets with another pet dissimilar to their own to create a heterozygous F1 generation. The students used a coin and flipped it to determine the chance of a parent having recessive or dominant traits to explain the probability concept of genes. Ms. Finnerty also had the students mimic mutations and adaptions through various generations that ranged from the F2 to F8 generations. Each step builds upon itself, which helps the students to understand the complexity of how genetics works. This activity was very easy to follow and is an excellent way to catch and keep one’s students intrigued.

Editor’s Corner: It’s a Wonderful Life… Science

Wed, Jun 29, 2011 7:49 PM
Relevance of the Time

Today DNA can be taught more effectively than ever before. From technology today students can experience and learn science that wasn’t available in the past. The author, Mr. Metz, points out that one of his students was shocked to find out that James Watson is “still alive” and how relatively recent the research is on DNA. (The article is a bit out of date for some information. Francis Crick has passed away since the article has been written.) The web helps students to delve into the new discoveries of science and to explore and learn more through visuals and interactions. The sources that the author provides is this article are quite interesting and are very useful for middle school and high school science classrooms. Overall Steve Metz provides valuable, resourceful suggestions to use in a science classroom.

Editor’s Note: Arguing Versus Scientific Argumentation

Wed, Jun 29, 2011 6:21 PM
Challenging the Brain with Scientific Argumentati

Linda Froschauer starts the article with a very moving quote about changing the brain, “To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains.” Students should not fear to speak out in the classroom because this process helps them to think critically with their brains. The article explains how inquiry is an important part of learning because students learn when they question, formulate hypotheses, and analyze their data. The author says that science requires deep thought and opinion in order to reach a means to an end. When students argue their points, they look deeper into the evidence and find ways to support their arguments. Forschauer’s article explains the importance of challenging the brain in order to think critically.