Name:___________________________ Period: __________
How are traits passed from parent to offspring?
DIRECTIONS: You will create a FAMILY (2 parents and 6 children) with at least 5 different traits to
demonstrate your understanding of the laws of genetics. Your product will be a poster presentation
displaying drawings of your family members, charts of phenotypes and genotypes, as well as your
Punnett Square predictions.
PART 1: Choosing your Creature and Traits
1.) Decide on a creature—real or imaginary that you would like to make your family species.
It is best to choose something you can draw or physically represent.
2.) Choose 5 traits that your creatures will express (ex. eye color, # of arms, type of hair,
etc…). These traits have to be physically shown on your creatures. At least one trait
must show codominance.
3.) Choose the two alleles (forms) of each trait and the genetic symbols you will use to
represent each.
4.) Complete the chart displaying your family’s traits, genetic symbols and phenotypes.
PART 2: P Generation: Creating the Parents
1.) Using the P Generation Chart (Chart #2) as a guide, flip two coins to find out what allele
combination the father will have for your first trait (heads=dominant allele;
tails=recessive allele). Fill in his genotype and phenotype for trait#1.
2.) Repeat step 1 for each additional trait of the father (for the codominant trait, you can
decide which side of the coin represents each allele).
3.) Repeat steps 2 & 3 for the mother. Fill in the appropriate columns in the chart.
4.) Design/Draw your parents using the correct phenotypes that were created on your
chart.
PART 3: Offspring Predictions: Punnett Square
Complete PART 3 – the Punnett Squares for your offspring: Set up
one square per trait. Fill in the parental genotypes and calculate the
ratios of genotypes and phenotypes of expected offspring for each trait.
PART 4: Create the F1 Generation
To determine the allele combinations of the actual pet babies, or offspring, that your parents
will have you will toss a coin or two. Tossing pennies will randomly determine which alleles are
inherited based on your parental genotypes. Fill out chart#4 completely as you do the coin
tosses to determine your children.
1.) For the first trait, label one coin with the father’s genotype (one allele on each side) and
another coin with the mother’s genotype.
2.) Toss the two pennies for the first offspring and record the offspring’s genotype and
phenotype on Chart #4
3.) Repeat this process for each additional offspring.
4.) Re-label the coins with the parental genotypes of the next trait.
5.) Follow the same procedure described in steps 2 & 3.
In the end, you should have genotypes and phenotypes for 5 traits in 6 offspring.
PART 5: Family Display
Make a family display on construction or poster paper, or make a mobile using a coat hanger.
The display should include the following:
 A family name at the top of your poster
 Drawings of the parents
 Drawings of the F1 generation of offspring (all 6)
 Chart showing trait key/legend
 Parental genotype/phenotype chart
 Offspring genotype/phenotype chart
 Punnett Square predictions
PART 6: Class Presentation
You should be prepared to present your family to the class.
In your presentation include the following:
 What you learned about genetics and heredity through this assessment. Your
presentation should focus on the question “How are traits passed from parents to
offspring?”
 An overview of your poster—traits of the family, the Punnett square predictions, and
resulting offspring
 A brief discussion on how well the Punnett Squares predicted your children (what was
accurate to the square and what was not. Give examples.)
Name_______________________________________
Per.____
How are traits passed from parent to offspring?
Student Worksheets
DIRECTIONS: You will create a FAMILY (2 parents and 6 children) with at least 5 different traits to
demonstrate your understanding of the laws of genetics. Your product will be a poster presentation
displaying drawings of your family members, charts of phenotypes and genotypes, as well as your
Punnett Square predictions.
Chart 1: TRAITS, GENETIC SYMBOLS & PHENOTYPES
Trait
Dominant Allele
Phenotype
Genetic
Symbol
Recessive Allele
Phenotype
Genetic
Symbol
Genetic Symbol
Genetic Symbol
Codominant trait:
Dominant Phenotype
Dominant Phenotype
Hybrid Pheno/Symbol
Chart 2: PARENTAL GENOTYPES AND PHENOTYPES.
TRAITS
Father’s Father’s
Genotype Phenotype
Mother’s
Genotype
Mother’s
Phenotype
Part 3: Draw all Punnett squares on separate paper to include on your poster presentation.
Use the proper format for all Punnett squares.
NAME_____________________________________
Per. ___
CHART #4: GENOTYPES & PHENOTYPES OF OFFSPRING (F1 Generation)
OFFSPRING 1.
NAMES →
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Trait #1:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
_________
Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype: Phenotype:
Trait #2:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
_________
Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype: Phenotype:
Trait #3:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
_________
Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype: Phenotype:
Trait #4:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
_________
Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype: Phenotype:
Trait #5:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
_________
Phenotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Genotype:
Phenotype: Phenotype: Phenotype:
Name(s):__________________________________________
Date:_____
Period:___
Family Display:
Make a family display on construction or poster paper, or make a mobile using a coat hanger.
The display should include the following:
 A family name at the top of your poster
 Drawings of the parents
 Drawings of the F1 generation of offspring (all 6)
 Chart showing trait key/legend
 Parental genotype/phenotype chart
 Offspring genotype/phenotype chart
 Punnett Square predictions
Class Presentation:
You should be prepared to present your family to the class.
In your presentation include the following:
 What you learned about genetics and heredity through this assessment. Your
presentation should focus on the question “How are traits passed from parents to
offspring?”
 An overview of your poster—traits of the family, the Punnett square predictions, and
resulting offspring
 A brief discussion on how well the Punnett Squares predicted your children (what was
accurate to the square and what was not. Give examples.)
Pet Project Genetics Task Rubric
Data Presentation/
Poster
o
o
o
Discussion/
Conclusion
o
o
o
o
1
Data is unorganized &
lacks neatness
Some data is missing
Some mistakes in
genotype and
phenotype of creatures
Few group members
speak clearly and
knowledgably on
genetic topics
Attempted discussion
of genetic principles
Refers to few examples
from poster
Supports discussion
with little data
(Punnett Squares, etc)
SCORE:_____
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
2
Data is organized &
neat
Most data is included
No mistakes in
genotype and
phenotype of creatures
Most group members
speak clearly and
knowledgably on
genetic topics
Limited discussion of
genetic principles
Refers to some
examples from poster
Supports discussion
with some data
(Punnett Squares, etc)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
3
Data is highly
organized & neat
All data is included
No mistakes and extras
included in genotype
and phenotype of
creatures
All group members
speak clearly and
knowledgably on
genetic topics
Sophisticated
discussion of genetic
principles
examples from poster
Supports discussion
with all data (Punnett
Squares, etc)