Today was an exciting first day in Genetics class!
After an introduction to basic genetics and genomics, the students dove right into their first experiments.
The students started an experiment where they are growing corn and observing traits expressed by their corn to determine the dominant and recessive traits. The traits they will be studying are height (tall versus short) and coloration (albino versus green).
They also began their bean beetle experiment today by observing the beetles and sexing them in order to get familiar with them. There will be further experiments with the beetles in the next few weeks.
After lunch, the students participated in a DNA modeling simulation in which they learned about structure, packaging, replication, transcription, and mitosis.
They also began their c. elegans experiment by incubating the e.coli the c. elegans will feed on.
In study hall tonight they will begin their books. The book they will be reading this year is titled The Violinist’s Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Told by our Genetic Code, by Sam Kean.