What are your Crazy Traits?

Students in Ms. Susan Marino's science classes at Bailey Middle School recently engaged in a crazy activity. Under the guidance of Science Teaching Fellow Jonathan Reynolds, teams of students built their own crazy creature to learn about heredity and how it works.

A roll of the dice determined if the crazy creature was a boy or a girl. Another roll of the dice determined if the creature had a long neck or a short neck and then big ears or little ears. With each roll of the dice, students built their very own crazy-looking creature piece by piece. Special environment cards add to the excitement with additional activities that allow students to explore how the environment influences the traits in a population. When the creature was complete, students stood back and laugh at their crazy-looking creature. They anxiously posed for photographs with their crazy creature as if it was the newest family member.

Crazy Traits is a hands-on science kit developed by CPO Science that meets the science curriculum standards pertaining to heredity in grades 7 and 8. Through this fun and manipulative activity students learn about genetics and evolution. They learn that the traits people and animals inherit from their parents are based on chance. Students also learn about concepts pertaining to traits such as alleles, genotypes, and phenotypes.