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Dragon Genetics: Independent Assortment and Gene Linkage
In the lab, Dragon Genetics: Independent Assortment and Gene Linkage, students learn the principles of independent assortment and gene linkage in activities which analyze inheritance of multiple genes on the same or different chromosomes in hypothetical dragons. Students learn how these principles derive from the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis and fertilization.
Download Student Handout: PDF format or Word format
Download Teacher Preparation Notes: PDF format or Word format
We invite comments on this Hands-On Activity and the accompanying Teacher Preparation Notes, including suggestions for other teachers who are planning to use the activity, useful preparatory or follow-up activities, additional resources or any questions you have related to the activity, or a brief description of any problem you might have encountered. If you have a relevant Word document you would like to have posted on this comments page, such as a version of the protocol you have used in your classroom, or if you would prefer to send your comments or questions in a private message, please write Ingrid Waldron at iwaldron@sas.upenn.edu.
See also a complete list of activities:
Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School and Middle School Students
Download Minds-On Activities for Teaching Biology
Introduction and Activities Listing
Intro and Biological Molecules
- Characteristics of Life
- Levels of Organization in Biology (NGSS)
- Introduction to Proteins and DNA (NGSS)
- Enzymes Help Us Digest Food (NGSS; hands-on)
- A Scientific Investigation – What types of food contain starch and protein? (NGSS; hands-on)
- Coronaviruses – Introduction (NGSS)
- Who Took Jerell’s iPod? -- An Organic Compound Mystery (hands-on)
- Is Yeast Alive? (hands-on)
- Macromolecules Jeopardy
Cell Structure and Function
- Cell Structure and Function – Major Concepts and Learning Activities
- Introduction to Cells (NGSS)
- Structure and Function of Cells, Organs and Organ Systems (NGSS)
- Why do some plants grow in odd shapes? (NGSS)
- Introduction to Osmosis (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Membrane Structure and Function (NGSS; hands-on)
- Cell Vocabulary Review Game
Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis
- Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis - Key Concepts and Activities
- How do organisms use energy? (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Cellular Respiration (NGSS)
- Using Models to Understand Photosynthesis (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration and Plant Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Food, Energy and Body Weight (NGSS)
- How do muscles get the energy they need for athletic activity? (NGSS)
- Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast – A Bioengineering Design Challenge (NGSS; hands-on)
- Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration (NGSS)
- Where does a tree’s mass come from? (NGSS)
- Photosynthesis Investigation (NGSS; hands-on)
Cell Division
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS; hands-on)
- Mitosis and the Cell Cycle (NGSS)
- Meiosis and Fertilization – Understanding How Genes Are Inherited (NGSS; hands-on)
- Understanding How Genes are Inherited via Meiosis and Fertilization (NGSS)
- Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis
- What causes melanoma and other types of cancer? (NGSS)
- Mistakes in Meiosis – Down Syndrome or Embryo Death (NGSS)
- Mitosis, Meiosis and Fertilization Vocabulary Review Game
Genetics
- Genetics Concepts and Activities (NGSS)
- Genetics (NGSS; hands-on)
- Genetics Intro – Family Members (NGSS)
- Genetics Sickle Cell Anemia and Trait (NGSS)
- Genetics Probability – Sex Ratios (NGSS)
- Mistake in copying DNA & Dwarfism (NGSS)
- Soap Opera Genetics (NGSS)
- Were the babies switched? The Genetics of Blood Types (NGSS; hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics I (hands-on)
- Dragon Genetics II (hands-on)
- Learning about Genetic Disorders
- Genetics Vocabulary Review Game
- Genetics Jeopardy
Molecular Biology
- Molecular Biology: Major Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- DNA (NGSS; hands-on)
- DNA Function, Structure and Replication (NGSS)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Introduction to Transcription and Translation (NGSS; hands-on)
- How Genes Can Cause Disease - Understanding Transcription and Translation (NGSS)
- UV, Mutations and DNA Repair (NGSS; hands-on)
- What types of mutations cause more vs. less severe muscular dystrophy? (NGSS)
- Cell Differentiation and Epigenetics (NGSS)
- Genetic Engineering Challenge – Preventing Vitamin A Deficiency (NGSS)
- Gene Editing with CRISPR-Cas – Potential Sickle Cell Anemia Cure (NGSS)
- Molecular Biology Vocabulary Review Game
Evolution
- Resources for Teaching and Learning about Evolution
- Evolution by Natural Selection (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is natural selection? (NGSS)
- Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth (NGSS)
- How have mutations and natural selection affected fur color in mice? (NGSS)
- How Whales Evolved (NGSS)
- How Eyes Evolved – Analyzing the Evidence (NGSS)
- How does evolution result in similarities and differences? (NGSS; hands-on)
- What is a species? (NGSS)
- Coronavirus Evolution and the COVID-19 Pandemic (NGSS)
- Evolution and Adaptations (NGSS)
Ecology
- Ecology Concepts and Learning Activities (NGSS)
- Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models vs. Complex Reality (NGSS)
- Some Similarities between the Spread of Infectious Disease and Population Growth (NGSS; hands-on)
- Stability and Change in Biological Communities (NGSS)
- Food Webs, Energy Flow, Carbon Cycle and Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Food Webs (NGSS)
- Carbon Cycles and Energy Flow through Ecosystems (NGSS)
- Trophic Pyramids (NGSS)
- Introduction to Global Warming (NGSS)
- Food and Climate Change – How can we feed a growing world population without increasing global warming? (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching about Climate Change
- The Ecology of Lyme Disease (NGSS)
Human Physiology and Health
- Negative Feedback, Homeostasis, and Positive Feedback – Examples and Concepts (NGSS; hands-on)
- Homeostasis, Negative Feedback, and Positive Feedback (NGSS)
- How do we Sense the Flavors of Food? (NGSS; hands-on)
- COVID-19 Vaccines (NGSS)
- How to Reduce the Spread of COVID-19 (NGSS)
- Molecular and Evolutionary Biology of HIV/AIDS and Treatment (NGSS)
- Resources for Teaching Cancer Biology
- Carbohydrate Consumption, Athletics, Health – Using Science Process Skills
- Vitamins and Health – Why Experts Disagree
- Regulation of Human Heart Rate (hands-on)
- Should You Drink Sports Drinks? When? Why?
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Comments
Independet Assortment & Gene Linkage-pg 7
Hello!
On the handout on page 8 I do not understand which male gamete you are wanting to use for the dihybrid cross? Per what I have deciphered, I have concluded four different male gametes which I would think affects the outcome of the following questions.
Please advise, thank you!
Ashley
Genetic Linkage Explanation
You are correct that there are four different types of male gametes (as derived on the top half of page 8). The Punnett square will show the four different types of offspring that can result from the cross between this father (four types of gamete) and mother (one type of gamete). The Punnett square should allow the students to notice that the closely linked alleles for wings and fire-breathing will always be inherited together, but the alleles for wings and horns will be inherited independently since they are on separate chromosomes. The Punnett square should allow the students to answer the questions at the bottom of page 8 and on page 9. I don't want to be any more detailed on this public website, but if you have additional questions, please write me at iwaldron@sas.upenn.edu .
Ingrid
I'm doing practical in a
I'm doing practical in a school in a few days and I really want to use this activity. I put all the chromosomes on the sticks as it said and then I got lost after step three. Can anyone please help me ? I really need this to pass my practical. Thanks! I just need more clarification on the activity.
Need clarification of question
I'm unclear what your difficulty is or what you are referring to by "step three". Please give more specific information about what your question is and where you are in the Student Handout or Teacher Preparation Notes, so I can try to help you.
Ingrid
On the teacher's prep notes,
On the teacher's prep notes, I have printed out two sheets of each page for the autosome genes and one copy of each of the sex chromosome plage.
I cut out the strips, 36 strips on each age. Now this is where I'm confused, do I glue the same strips (e.g. ABcDe) on both sides of one popsicle stick? For the female sex chromosome, do I just use any two strips from the page? What does the + and - mean? But for the male chromosomes, I don't know which one is the x and the f chromosome ! I'm so confused!
Next
So each student gets four autosome sticks all together, each a different color, and one sex chromosome stick. Am I correct? Do the students just then randomly drop any stick on the table?What will be recorded? The whole chromose (AbcDe)? But they have that on both sides of the stick am I right?
I don't know what the students record on the activity sheet as well
I'm so confused. Any clarification would help! Is there any videos showing an example of this hands on activity? I need this for my prac!
Thank you so much!
questions pertain to different activity – answers available
These questions pertain to the other version of Dragon Genetics, so I have posted a response in the comments section for Dragon Genetics: Principles of Mendelian Inheritance.
Ingrid
I have a chance to try this
I have a chance to try this before in our class. It is highly recommended because we got a positive feedback upon trying this.
Announcements of updated activities
Thanks for your appreciation! We have created a new listserv so that we can send announcements of updates for this activity and others in the set. If you would like to be alerted to updates, you can sign up at /exchange/bioactivities/subscribe.
2010 revisions
The Student Handout has been slightly revised to clarify some of the questions. The Teacher Preparation Notes now include a possible Extension Activity, so students can learn about inheritance of two genes located far apart on the same chromosome, as well as two genes located very close together on the same chromosome or on different chromosomes. This extension activity is a worksheet, which we have found to be a useful supplement or alternative to hands-on activities for helping students to learn genetics.
How long does this activity take?
I really want to try this activity with my class. How long does this activity typically take students? I need to make sure I allow enough time when planning my unit schedule.
Time Needed for Dragon Genetics
Where can I find the answers
Where can I find the answers to the Dragon Genetics?
Answers for Dragon Genetics Questions
Ingrid
Thank you!
I think your site is awesome! What great, creative and thorough explanations, activities and relevant material. It makes science fun and interesting as it should be.
Wendy
Thank You!!
As a biology teacher for 12 years, I really like how your activities are there to reinforce the content. It makes things more tangible to the students. I also like the ability to clarify any questions about an activity. Kudos.
fantastic activity!
I used this activity with a home school group ranging in age from 10 to 13. They LOVED it. The kids asked to take home extra copies of worksheets and are busily building many dragons to bring back and compare for our next meeting. Thanks!
where can I look for the answers
where can I found the answers of this work is that I want to learn biology for my own and the best way was from internet and I found this page but I dont know any of the answers
I think the best way to
I think the best way to learn biology on your own would be to purchase a used copy of a good introductory biology textbook, which will be more reliable and comprehensive than most websites. A very readable and informative textbook that I recommend is David Krogh's Biology: A Guide to the Natural World, 2009, which is available in paperback. I would guess you could buy a used copy through Amazon.com. Our activities are designed for teachers to use, but some of the websites listed at the end of Teacher Preparation Notes for the Genetics activity might be a good starting place for you to learn genetics.
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