The Wonderful World of Diversity:Introduction to Human Inheritance

Who’s in the family?

Talk the Talk:•Heredity•Trait•Gene•DNA•Chromosome

•Allele•Genotype•Phenotype•Heterozygous•Homozygous

Dominant and Recessive Traits•For each of our traits, we inherit one allele

from Mom and one from Dad. •One allele usually expresses itself (we can

see it) and the other remains hidden. The expressed allele is dominant and the allele we can’t see is recessive.

•Example: If curly tail is dominant to straight tail, a puppy who received a curly tail allele from its mother and a straight tail allele from its father will have a curly tail.

Human Traits

• No Widows Peak (W). Widow’s peak (w). My phenotype =

• Dimples (D). No Dimples (d). My phenotype =

• Freckles (F). No Freckles (f). My phenotype =

• Hand Cross Right Thumb Top (R). Left Thumb Top ( r ). My phenotype =

• Tongue Rolling (T). No Tongue Rolling (t). My phenotype =

• Free earlobe (E). Attached Earlobe (e). My phenotype =

Human TraitsTrait Class

Tally

Ratio Students

with Trait / Total

Students

Percent of

Students with

Trait

No Widow’s

Peak Widow’s Peak

Dimples

No Dimples Freckles

No Freckles

Right Thumb

Cross Left Thumb

Tongue Roller Non Tongue Free Earlobe Attached Earlobe

Make a graph of the class data for those expressing the recessive phenotype.

Make a graph of the class data for those expressing the dominant phenotype.

Conduct a Survey

•Work with a partner•Survey at least 20 people for traits that

were studied in class•People must agree to take part in your

survey

Trait Tally

Widow’s Peak  

No Widow’s Peak  

Dimples  

No Dimples  

Freckles  

No Freckles  

Right Thumb Cross  

Left Thumb Cross  

Tongue Roller  

Non Tongue Roller  

Free Earlobe  

Attached Earlobe  

Total Number of People Surveyed  

Explain it:Use key vocabulary to write a paragraph that explains how traits are inherited and why

this results in a wide range of phenotypes.