The Origins of Genetics

Three-headed monster animationCreate a Monster

How fun would it be to create your own monster using what you have learned in this topic? In this assignment, you will create two baby monsters by flipping coins. The coins represent the alleles found in the gametes from each of the monster babies’ parents. Each time you flip the pair of coins, you will determine the form of the trait that your baby monster inherits. The flipping of the coins builds the monster’s genotype. Head represents the dominant allele and tails represents the recessive allele.

Part I

Gather two coins of any denomination and access the Create a Monster Template to begin your monster creation. As you flip the coins and record the genotype of your monster babies, keep track of the alleles that the parents contribute in the tables found on the template. Heads represents the dominate allele (upper-case letter) and tails represents the recessive allele (lower-case letter). Even though the alleles separate and assort randomly, for this activity the coin on the right will represent the allele donated from the mother and the coin on the left will represent the allele donated from the father.

Part II

Of course, your baby monsters will not always stay babies. Over time your monster will grow up, fall in love, and reproduce, creating more monster babies. In the second part of this activity, you will complete a Punnett square for each trait on the Create a Monster Template to determine the possible genotypes of the next generation of monster babies.

Part III

In the third part of this activity, you will draw pictures of what the boy and girl monsters look like, as well as one of their possible offspring. Your drawings should be neat, organized, accurate, and drawn in color.

Choose one of the following ways to produce your drawings:

  • Hand-draw the assignment and then take a picture of it for submission to the assignment’s dropbox.
  • Hand-draw the assignment and then scan it for submission to the assignment’s dropbox.
  • Create a new file in a paint or graphics program and utilize the software to create the images. You can then submit your work to the assignment’s dropbox.
  • Use a mobile or computer-based application to create your drawings and email or export the final product for submission to the assignment’s dropbox.

Assignment IconOnce you have completed the Create a Monster Template and your three monster drawings, please submit the template and your image files to the dropbox.