Station 1

Gregor Mendel

  1. Who was Gregor Mendel?
  2. Where did he do his research?
  3. What organisms did he use in his experiments?
  4. What nick name did his research earn him?

In the mid nineteenth century, a priest named Gregor Mendel tended a garden in a central European monastery. Mendel’s experiments in that peaceful garden would one day revolutionize the study of heredity. Heredity is the passing of physical characteristics from parents to offspring.

Mendel wondered why different pea plants had different characteristics. Some pea plants grew tall, while others were short. Some plants produced green seeds, while others had yellow seeds. Each different form of a characteristic, such as stem height or seed color, is called a trait. Mendel observed that the pea plants’ traits were often similar to those of their parents. Sometimes, however, the plants had different traits from those of their parents.

Mendel developed a method by which he cross-pollinated, or “crossed,” pea plants. To cross two plants, he removed pollen from a flower on one plant. He then brushed the pollen onto a flower on a second plant.

He started his experiments with purebred plants, Then Mendel crossed plants with contrasting traits—for example, tall plants and short plants.

Mendel experimented with thousands of pea plants to understand the process of heredity. Today, Mendel’s discoveries form the foundation of genetics, the scientific study of heredity

Station 2

Symbols for Alleles

What symbols would you use to represent the dominant and recessive alleles for:

  1. Hair color : Brown is dominant, Blonde is recessive
  2. Flower color: Purple is dominant, White is recessive.
  3. Height : Tall is dominant, Short is recessive.

Station 3

Crossing Pea Plants

  1. If you crossed a purebred round seeded pea plant with a purebred wrinkled seeded pea plant, what would the F1 generation offspring look like?
  2. If you crossed a purebred green poded plant with a purebred yellow poded plant what would the F2 generation look like?

Station 4

Gene, Trait, Allele

Explain the difference between a gene, a trait and an allele in your own words…

Station 5

Purebred vs Hybrid

What is the difference between a purebred organism and a hybrid organism?

Station 6

Flower Parts

Label the parts of the flower:

Station 7

Summary

Explain why traits controlled by dominant alleles are more common than traits controlled by recessive alleles.