Teachin’ time

And I’m looking for advice from the peanut gallerySo Monday, Nov. 1st, the teacher who I’m feebly assisting won’t be in. He asked if I’d like to teach a class. They’re doing genetics, moving in to human genetics, so I need to figure out something in there. I was thinking maybe the genetics of cancer and other disease, but this isn’t a particularly enthusiastic class, so I may have to aim a touch lower. Suggestions?

3 Responses to “Teachin’ time”

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Have they learned about Punnett Squares and suchlike yet? I know it seems fairly simplistic, but it’s really important. There are also some cool ways you can get them to interact and do some groovy genetics activities with Punnetts. And some of them can get really complex. (I’d be happy to detail the noodle “experiment” or some others, if you want. But I don’t want to waste my breath if you’re not seriously considering them.)

I also think that touching on diseases is good. But maybe focus on one or two specific ones (like breast cancer not ALL cancer), so that you can give them a more in depth look at it. You could also throw the disease idea to the wind and talk about DNA fingerprinting and such. Everybody likes CSI crime solving stuff. Or so I hear. 🙂

ShortSpeedFreak - October 20th, 2004 at 10:01 pm

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Oh! Punnett Squares are a great idea! Good call, ShortSpeedFreak!

Paradoxdruid - October 21st, 2004 at 1:57 am

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What’s really great about Punnett Squares is that you can relate it to their lives. You know, if you cross one X-Man who has regenerative powers and acute hearing with one who’s telekinetic and telepathic . . . Or, whatever. My high school biology teacher used the puppeteers from Larry Niven’s books to teach us about genetics. Incomplete dominance mostly. 🙂

ShortSpeedFreak - October 21st, 2004 at 5:25 pm

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