Engaging to students

The chapter outlines the use of a gene to change the taste of cucumbers. The chapter, uses the historical modification of cucumbers as a means to get students to work on genetic concepts.

Great thought exercise!

This exercise walks students through how a geneticist determines the function of certain genes and the effect of mutations. This is a nice extension of the exercise from the previous chapter... See More

This exercise walks students through how a geneticist determines the function of certain genes and the effect of mutations. This is a nice extension of the exercise from the previous chapter because it has students use genomics and genetic databases to understand mutations and their effect on both the DNA and the proteins encoded by that DNA sequence. The introductory story is a great attention grabber. I liked how it walked students though a geneticist's thought process for determining what gene would be responsible for a certain trait. It is designed for high school students, but I think it could also be used in a college setting. I believe the content would be too difficult for younger students to understand.