Name: Aayush Singh Date: 02/16/18
Student Exploration: Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Vocabulary: allele, DNA, dominant allele, gene, genotype, heredity, heterozygous,
homozygous, hybrid, inheritance, phenotype, Punnett square, recessive allele, trait
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using
the Gizmo.)
1. The image shows a single litter of kittens. How are they
similar to one another? All of them are kittens, have a
white belly, have spots of color throughout their body,
and seem to have no missing body parts.
2. How do they differ from one another? They each have a different skin color and body mass.
3. What do you think their parents looked like? I think one was black and the other was some
shade of spotted brown or entirely white.
Gizmo Warm-up
Heredity is the passage of genetic information from parents to
offspring. The rules of inheritance were discovered in the 19th
century by Gregor Mendel. With the Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Gizmo™, you will study how one trait, or feature, is inherited.
1. Drag two black mice into the Parent 1 and Parent 2 boxes.
Click Breed several times. What do the offspring look like?
All the offspring that resulted from this were black.
The appearance of each mouse is also called its phenotype.
2. Click Clear and drag two white mice into the parent boxes. Click Breed several times. What
is the phenotype of the offspring now? All the offspring were white.
3. Do you think mouse offspring will always look like their parents? No
Explain: Phenotype is determined by genotype, and offspring can have hidden alleles that
would cause for a different phenotype than their parents.
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 01-19-2022 04:52:50 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30769369/021618-Mouse-Genetics-One-Trait-Gizmodocx/
, Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
Click Clear.
Patterns of
Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the
inheritance
parent boxes, but don’t click Breed yet.
Question: What patterns are shown by offspring traits?
1. Predict: What do you think the offspring of a black mouse and a white mouse will look like?
Either entirely black, entirely white, entirely gray, or black and white at the same time.
2. Observe: Click Breed several times. What do you see? All the offspring were black.
3. Observe: Drag two offspring into the Holding Cages. These mice are called hybrids
because their parents had different traits. Click Clear, and then breed the two hybrids.
What do you see now? Around 25% of the offspring were white and the rest were black.
4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics. Click Breed until there are 100 offspring.
How many offspring were black? 76 How many were white? 24
5. Explore: Try other combinations of mouse parents. Write the results of each experiment in
your notes. When you have finished, answer the following questions. (Note: You can refer to
the parents as “pure black,” “pure white,” or “hybrid.”)
A. Which parent combination(s) yield only white offspring?
Only two pure white parents.
B. Which parent combination(s) yield only black offspring?
A pure black with any other parent type.
C. Which parent combination(s) yield a mixture of black and white offspring?
A hybrid with another hybrid or a hybrid with a pure white.
6. Challenge: Based on experiments similar to these, Gregor Mendel devised a theory of
inheritance. Use your own observations to come up with your own explanation of how a trait
such as fur color is passed down from parents to offspring.
In this case, the trait of skin color is expressed through only one set of genes and it exhibits
the basic Mendelian genetics principles of dominant and recessive genes (without any
codominance or incomplete dominance).
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 01-19-2022 04:52:50 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30769369/021618-Mouse-Genetics-One-Trait-Gizmodocx/
Student Exploration: Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Vocabulary: allele, DNA, dominant allele, gene, genotype, heredity, heterozygous,
homozygous, hybrid, inheritance, phenotype, Punnett square, recessive allele, trait
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using
the Gizmo.)
1. The image shows a single litter of kittens. How are they
similar to one another? All of them are kittens, have a
white belly, have spots of color throughout their body,
and seem to have no missing body parts.
2. How do they differ from one another? They each have a different skin color and body mass.
3. What do you think their parents looked like? I think one was black and the other was some
shade of spotted brown or entirely white.
Gizmo Warm-up
Heredity is the passage of genetic information from parents to
offspring. The rules of inheritance were discovered in the 19th
century by Gregor Mendel. With the Mouse Genetics (One Trait)
Gizmo™, you will study how one trait, or feature, is inherited.
1. Drag two black mice into the Parent 1 and Parent 2 boxes.
Click Breed several times. What do the offspring look like?
All the offspring that resulted from this were black.
The appearance of each mouse is also called its phenotype.
2. Click Clear and drag two white mice into the parent boxes. Click Breed several times. What
is the phenotype of the offspring now? All the offspring were white.
3. Do you think mouse offspring will always look like their parents? No
Explain: Phenotype is determined by genotype, and offspring can have hidden alleles that
would cause for a different phenotype than their parents.
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 01-19-2022 04:52:50 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30769369/021618-Mouse-Genetics-One-Trait-Gizmodocx/
, Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
Click Clear.
Patterns of
Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the
inheritance
parent boxes, but don’t click Breed yet.
Question: What patterns are shown by offspring traits?
1. Predict: What do you think the offspring of a black mouse and a white mouse will look like?
Either entirely black, entirely white, entirely gray, or black and white at the same time.
2. Observe: Click Breed several times. What do you see? All the offspring were black.
3. Observe: Drag two offspring into the Holding Cages. These mice are called hybrids
because their parents had different traits. Click Clear, and then breed the two hybrids.
What do you see now? Around 25% of the offspring were white and the rest were black.
4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics. Click Breed until there are 100 offspring.
How many offspring were black? 76 How many were white? 24
5. Explore: Try other combinations of mouse parents. Write the results of each experiment in
your notes. When you have finished, answer the following questions. (Note: You can refer to
the parents as “pure black,” “pure white,” or “hybrid.”)
A. Which parent combination(s) yield only white offspring?
Only two pure white parents.
B. Which parent combination(s) yield only black offspring?
A pure black with any other parent type.
C. Which parent combination(s) yield a mixture of black and white offspring?
A hybrid with another hybrid or a hybrid with a pure white.
6. Challenge: Based on experiments similar to these, Gregor Mendel devised a theory of
inheritance. Use your own observations to come up with your own explanation of how a trait
such as fur color is passed down from parents to offspring.
In this case, the trait of skin color is expressed through only one set of genes and it exhibits
the basic Mendelian genetics principles of dominant and recessive genes (without any
codominance or incomplete dominance).
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 01-19-2022 04:52:50 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/30769369/021618-Mouse-Genetics-One-Trait-Gizmodocx/
