Traits that may be passed on from one generation to the next are called as heritable traits. We have studied some of them for the pea plant, in the experiments conducted by Mendel.
Let us do the following activity to understand the Mendelian principles of Heredity
a) 3 cm length and 1cm breadth chart pieces- 4
b) 2 cm length and 1cm breadth chart pieces-4
c) Red buttons - 4
d) White buttons - 4
e) Chart, scale, sketch pen, pencil, 2 bags.
Prepare a chart with 2 2 boxes along with number and Symbol as shown in the figure
Monohybrid cross (starting with hybrid parents) Take 4 pairs each of long and short strips and put them in two separate bags. Now each bag contains 4 strips (2 long and 2 short).One bag say 'A' represents male and the bag ‘B’ represents female. Now randomly pick one strip each from bag A and B and put them together in the 1 on the chart. Keep picking out the strips and arrange them in the same manner till your bags are empty. Sametime your boxes in the chart are filled with pairs of strips. You might have got the following combinations, two long strips, one long and one short strip, two short strips.
Conduct this activity several times and answer the following questions.
What is the number of long strip pairs?
What is the number of one long and one short pairs?
What is the number of short strips pairs?
What is the percentage of each type? also find their ratios?
What can you conclude from this game?
You may play this game by taking buttons instead. Compare your second game results with that of first game. What do you understand. Try to play another game mentioned in annexure then discuss with your classmates