Module 6 Mendelian Genetics

Lesson 2—Mendel’s Laws and Monohybrid Crosses

Get Focused

Has anyone ever told you that you look just like your mother, your father, or your great uncle Jed? While the question of how we got many of our physical traits can be complex to explain, a few are very simply explained. Traits like hair-line, thumb curve, and earlobe attachment are examples of traits that are controlled by one gene with two alleles. Comparing which traits your parents have to those you and your siblings have is a quick way to observe inheritance in action. 

In this lesson, you will learn the patterns of inheritance that Mendel first discovered by studying pea plants. You will become familiar with techniques and conventions used by geneticists to trace the inheritance of traits from one generation to the next.

In this lesson, the following focusing questions will be examined:

• What are the simple principles of single trait inheritance?

• How can genotype be determined from phenotype?

This lesson will take approximately 80 minutes to complete.

Module 6: Lesson 2 Assignment

  After you work through the lesson, complete the online assignment.

Bio30 3.6.2 online assignment

The other questions and activities in this lesson are not marked by the teacher; however, you should still attempt all of the work offered here. They are designed to help you review important information and build key concepts that may be applied in future lessons.