Heredity

• Choose the purple link to “more about heredity” under the purple face. Go through all the slides.
• Find out the meanings of the following words:
• Pedigree
• Genotype
• Phenotype

• Click on “genes” at the left side bar of the site you are on (you may have to scroll up)

·        Read “more about genes” and find out the meaning of dominant and recessive genes.

·        Play the build a beetle game

**Go back to the heredity section if you have time and play the heredity learning activity about punnet squares.

Chromosomes

Scroll down the page until you see the pictures of the chromosomes.

Select the chromosomes that you want to learn more about by clicking on the chromosome. If you use the right click button on your mouse, you will be able to zoom in on the chromosome and read the little words!  For each chromosome, find out how many base pairs of nucleotides (A-T or G-C) it has. List 8 genes that are located on this chromosome.  You can use Word or Publisher to put together your information.

A-    pick 5chromosomes

B-    pick 4 chromosomes

C-    pick 3 chromosomes

Genetic Diseases

This site has information on 16 common genetic diseases.  Make a brochure of  genetic diseases. Make sure that you include the answers to the following  questions:

What is the disease?

What causes it?

How is it inherited?

How is it diagnosed? (testing and screening)

How is it treated?

A choose 4 diseases for your brochure

B choose 3 diseases for your brochure

C choose 2 disease for your brochure

Freak Shows

·        Find out more about side show history by clicking on the history link. There are 5 sections to read about. Answer the questions for each section.

o       Curtains up: Why do you think people have always been interested in people and animals who have genetic differences?

o       Stars and curiosities : What did the freak show performers want to prove to the rest of the world? Give an example.

o       Scene change: How did John Merrick change the way people thought about side shows?

o       To be or not to be: How did Darwin’s Theory of Evolution lead to Eugenics?

o       Moral Guardians: Did the “freaks” really need to be removed from the freak show or by blocking their appearance in the shows, did society take away  a chance to earn money or gain fame?

Biodiversity- click on the activity links

• Play all three activities in order.  ACTIVITY LINK       (red button)

• Record your number for the wheel of genetics __________________
• What was difficult about eliminating a trait? Write down the highest number of people you were able to keep after eliminating the 5 traits ____________       What would happen to the variety of humans if we started a list of traits to be eliminated? What trait would you want to eliminate?
• What was the largest number of giraffes you kept in your herd? ____________

•  Click on the ACTIVITY LINK  (green button)
• Choose 2 of  the games/activities to do for an A or B, choose 1 for a C. After you do the activity or play the game, write 3-4 sentences about what you learned or what more you would want to find out about that topic.
•  Click on the ACTIVITY LINK
• Choose 2 games to play - write a short summary of each game you have played.

Ethics

In Ghost Boy, Harold feels a lot of power because he is able to train the elephants to do something difficult. The Elephants are kept chained and travel in a small truck from place to place.  How do you feel about using Elephants in the circus?  Elephants in captivity are used to help keep a bigger gene pool for reproduction so that there is a big variety on traits within the captive Elephant population and hopefully the population will stay healthy. There are many people who feel that Elephants should not be used for ANY reason in captivity, especially as circus acts. 

• Click on the ACTVITY LINK (green plus sign) to read about Ringling Bros. Circus Elephants from their point of view
• Click on the ACTIVITY LINK  (red stop sign) to read about the point of view of one group of people who do NOT want Elephants used in the circus. This site is the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) site - it has some pretty detailed descriptions of animal cruelty- if you are not comfortable with it- let me know and I will give you some alternative info.
• Write a letter to the editor of the Liberty News explaining your point of view on the elephants being used in the circus that has just come through your town. Use facts from the two sites you read to back up your opinion. OR create a mini poster using Word or Publisher that shows your opinion and include “factoids” about the elephants from the sites we read.
• Do you think that Conrad should have been killed? Explain your thoughts on this.