It’s all in the genes

Suzie Harrison

The question of who one really is and what constitutes their being is

something that has exercised the mind of many a philosopher with

various theories as the outcome. Students in Linda Hill-Lindsay’s

seventh-grade life science class took a more concrete approach by

learning about genetics. Gregor Mendel would be proud.

The class has worked extensively learning about cells, meiosis and

disease with a research project due on Wednesday.

“They’ve been working on a research project for seven weeks, doing

research on a disease or disorder, with a visual and they will all

give an oral presentation,” Hill-Lindsay said. “They’re going to

study the human body and how these diseases effect the human body.”

The students will then give a lesson to their classmates on the

viral, bacterial or genetic disorder they studied.

The class attentively reviewed the chapter they were working on

and discussed probability and genetics, completing a worksheet, which

reinforced understanding the main ideas and built vocabulary.

Filling out two Punnett squares, the students worked on

determining probability and examined dominant and recessive genes.

They graphed the different possibilities of color when crossing

guinea pig parents.

One student answered that it was possible that the cross between

two black guinea pigs, as figured through a Punnett square, had a 75%

chance of producing black offspring and a 25% chance of white

offspring since black is a dominant color gene.

“We just took a test about recessive traits and sex cells,” Bailey

Hand, 12, said. “It’s interesting to learn about the different cells

and how sex cells are formed.”

Hand did her report on scarlet fever and said each student will

have to give a five- to seven-minute presentation to the class.

“Scarlet fever is interesting, you can get a rash from it and pus

on your tonsils,” Bailey said.

Lorraine Carroll, 13, said that she liked learning about heredity

and genetics, and that they just did a project on meiosis, explaining

that meiosis is the process when sex cells divide.

“I chose sickle cell anemia, I saw a poster on it,” Lorraine said.

“It’s about cells. Cells get out of shape -- it makes cells shaped

like crescents as opposed to circles.”

She explained the A to Z facts and said that it’s a hereditary

disorder.

“I thought it was really interesting, good to learn about new

diseases,” Lorraine said. “If I didn’t have this class I wouldn’t

have learned about this stuff.”