Family Pedigrees Project
This activity will follow the study of pedigree designs and human genetics. Your
pedigree design will trace a genetic trait of your choice through your ancestry.
Possible traits that you can follow are ear lobes attachments, tongue rolling,
hitchhiker’s thumb, or mid-digital hair. Make a pedigree design of your family for
the traits of your choice. You may go back as many generations as you can
determine; for example, to great-grand parents. If you have a relative you cannot
find or who is unreachable, put a question mark between the parentheses to the
right of his/her name. Begin at the bottom of the pedigree design with you and
your genetic brothers and sisters. A square is used to represent a male person
and a circle represents a female. Shading of either a square or circle indicates
the presence of the recessive allele trait. Each marriage or mating generation is
indicated by a Roman numeral. The square and circle are joined together by
lines indicating marriage or mating relationships.
1. In the blank below each person in the pedigree (circle or square), give
your first name and the first name of each of your genetic relatives.
2. In the parentheses to the right of the person's name, give what genotype
you think he or she has. [Example Joe (Ff) or Jane (SS) or Sue (C?)]
3. Remember, the diagram above is only a picture example listing the family
pedigree design method and your actual family pedigree will vary.
4. If you are adopted or don't live with either genetic parent or if you cannot
contact any of your relatives for any reason, select a friend or neighbor
and do his/her family pedigree instead of yours.
Family Pedigrees Rubric