Along with these last questions, student groups could be asked to create explanatory models of how the different looking puppies came about. By the end of the unit, these are some that students should be able to include in the final examples of their models: 1. What can be observed about the dogs? Describe their relationships. (Students should be able to identify generations of organisms and phenotypes.) 2. What information is hidden within the dogs that affects their appearance? (Students should be able to predict possible genotypes of organisms and understand that this information lies in the genes of the organism’s chromosomes.) 3. What interactions occur with the parent information in order to produce the puppies that are observed? (Students should be able to describe the interactions between dominant and recessive alleles and predict the outcomes of these interactions.) B: This phenomenon could also be used later on in a unit on Heredity/Genetics to help provide options for differentiation of student work with Punnett Squares. If students need more practice with monohybrid crosses, they could work on making predictions about the offspring of only chocolate and black Labrador parents with varying genotypes. Students could also work up to the challenge of being able to figure out an unknown parent genotype by trying to puzzle out the method that we know as a test cross. If students have mastered the use of basic Punnett Squares, they could be given the additional challenge of making predictions of dihybrid crosses between black, chocolate, or yellow lab parents with varying genotypes. In this case, there are enough options of genotypes that students could even make up their own crosses and see what offspring would be predicted. Later in the unit, students could also be given a real-life challenge as if they were in the role of a dog breeder. Here is an example scenario: get to choose what color coat you believe best suits Labrador retrievers! Once you “You have chosen which coat color you prefer, please explain how over the course of at least 3 generations you could maximize the number of puppies born with your favorite coat color.”
Along with these last questions, student groups could be asked to create explanatory models of how the different looking puppies came about. By the end of the unit, these are some that students should be able to include in the final examples of their models: 1. What can be observed about the dogs? Describe their relationships. (Students should be able to identify generations of organisms and phenotypes.) 2. What information is hidden within the dogs that affects their appearance? (Students should be able to predict possible genotypes of organisms and understand that this information lies in the genes of the organism’s chromosomes.) 3. What interactions occur with the parent information in order to produce the puppies that are observed? (Students should be able to describe the interactions between dominant and recessive alleles and predict the outcomes of these interactions.) B: This phenomenon could also be used later on in a unit on Heredity/Genetics to help provide options for differentiation of student work with Punnett Squares. If students need more practice with monohybrid crosses, they could work on making predictions about the offspring of only chocolate and black Labrador parents with varying genotypes. Students could also work up to the challenge of being able to figure out an unknown parent genotype by trying to puzzle out the method that we know as a test cross. If students have mastered the use of basic Punnett Squares, they could be given the additional challenge of making predictions of dihybrid crosses between black, chocolate, or yellow lab parents with varying genotypes. In this case, there are enough options of genotypes that students could even make up their own crosses and see what offspring would be predicted. Later in the unit, students could also be given a real-life challenge as if they were in the role of a dog breeder. Here is an example scenario: “You get to choose what color coat you believe best suits Labrador retrievers! Once you have chosen which coat color you prefer, please explain how over the course of at least 3 generations you could maximize the number of puppies born with your favorite coat color.”
November%20Puzzling%20Phenomenon.docx