Genetics:
Oh Me, Oh Mei-osis:
Objective:
Name:_____________________
To demonstrate the passing of traits from parent to
offspring
What You Need to Conduct This Experiment:
Two Pennies
Two People
Before you Begin:
Who determines the gender of offspring: the male (father) or female (mother)? Why do you
think this?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
What You Need to Know:
There are two sex chromosomes that a person can inherit: X and Y. If you are female (XX), you
can only give an X chromosome to your offspring. Males (XY), however, can give either, since
they make sperm that
are either
X or Y. Smelly
So, it is theMellie
male whoGNLLC
determines the sex of the child,
Dirty
Gerdy
based solely upon whether an X or Y sperm fertilizes the egg first.
What You Do:
For this activity, you are going to pair up with one of your classmates. First, one of you will flip
a coin to determine the gender of your offspring. Remember that the male in the relationship
determines the gender of the offspring.
If the male flips a HEADS, you are having a baby girl! If the male flips a TAILS, you are having
a baby boy!
Then, for the traits in the table below, each person will flip their coin at the same time to
determine which trait you get from mom, and which trait you get from dad. Whatever
will
Heads = Dominant
Tails = Recessive
You and your partner may choose hair style and skin color of your baby.
Everything else must follow the phenotypes you inherited.
baby!
© Getting Nerdy, LLC
Genetics:
Oh Me, Oh Mei-osis:
Name:_____________________
Use the following traits to answer the questions and to create your Baby:
Gender
X = HEADS
Y = TAILS
The Male in your relationship flips one
coin. Check X or Y based on the flip.
Homozygous Dominant
(TWO HEADS)
Brown: BB
Brown: BB
Heterozygous
(ONE HEAD, ONE TAIL)
Brown: Bb
Brown: Bb
Homozygous Recessive
(TWO TAILS)
Some other color: bb
Some other color: bb
WW
Ww
No Cleft Chin
NN
No Cleft Chin
Nn
Peak
w
Cleft Chin
Round
RR
Round
Rr
Square
rr
Freckles
Freckles
FF
Freckles
Ff
No Freckles
ff
Dimples
Dimples
DD
Dimples
Dd
No Dimples
d
Earlobes
Unattached
UU
Eyelashes
Trait
Hair
Eyes
Peak
Cleft Chin
Face Shape
Tongue
Rolling
Your
Genotype
Your
Phenotype
Dirty Gerdy
Smelly Attached
Mellie GNLLC
Unattached
Uu
uu
Long Eyelashes
LL
Long Eyelashes
Ll
Short
l
Tongue roller
TT
Tongue Roller
Tt
Non-Roller
t
The Results: What Happened?
1. What percent chance is there of producing a male offspring? Female? Explain. _____________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What do the coins represent in this exercise? __________________________________________________________
3. What determines the phenotypes of the offspring? _____________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What are the possible genotypes of a child with unattached earlobes? _____________________________________
5. How would it be possible for the offspring to show a trait that neither parent shows physically? Explain.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Colorblindness is a sex-linked trait that affects males more often than it does females. It requires only one affected
sex chromosome to be expressed in males, but in females it requires two affected sex chromosomes. On what
chromosome do you think the trait for colorblindness is found? Explain.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
© Getting Nerdy, LLC
Genetics:
Name:_____________________
Oh Me, Oh Mei-osis: A Game of Chance
What You Do:
Use the chart on the previous page to draw your new little bundle of joy!
Baby Name: ______________________________________________________________________________
Date of Birth: _____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Delivered by: _____________________________________________________________________________
Dirty Gerdy Smelly Mellie GNLLC
© Getting Nerdy, LLC