Making a Baby

Discuss the activity we did. Explain how it worked. What did you learn about genetics and offspring? Reflect on how "real" you think this is or is not. Was it fun? Would you use a similar activity in a classroom? Could it be adapted some way to be appropriate for younger (upper elementary) kids? 

Last week in class we "made a baby" with another person. It was really interesting. We had a list of traits that we had to say if we either had them or didn't. If the trait was homozygous or heterozygous for allele 1, we had to roll a coin to determine if it was homo or heterozygous. Below is the first page of traits that we used.

Once we each figured out our genotypes, we flipped a coin to see if our baby got the homo or heterozygous allele for each trait. We filled in a sheet that is shown below. Using the allele from Mom and Dad, we figured out the genotype and then what the phenotype would be for our baby.

This is what my parter and my baby would look like. 

I think that this activity was a great way to show genetics. Although you don't flip a coin with your parter to decide traits, it showed the random aspect. You don't know what traits your baby will get from you. Sure, it wasn't "real" but it gave me a greater understanding of how genetics work. I never really understood how you could get a trait that neither one of your parents have, and this activity helped me to see that. I would definitely use this activity in the future. Our class got really into it and had a great time. 

This activity could be modified for upper elementary students by making the number of traits shorter. I could do the first few with them so that they understand it too.