The Field Museum
Education Department Presents
Educator Guide & Walking Map
The Field Museum Education Department develops On-line Educator Guides to provide detailed
information on field trip planning, alignment with Illinois State Learning Standards (ILS), as well as
hands-on classroom activities to do before or after your visit to the Museum.
September 15, 2006 – April 1, 2007
This exhibition and its North American tour were developed by The Field Museum, Chicago, in partnership with The
Vereinigung zur Förderung der Genomforschung, Vienna, Austria, and The Mendel Museum, Brno, Czech Republic.
Chicago Sponsor:
Additional support for Gregor Mendel programs is provided by Vivian and
Strachan Donnelley, Ph.D. and the Center for Humans and Nature.
Guide Acknowlegements: Jennifer Marx, Volunteer, and Monica Garcia, Manager of Teacher Programs & Partnerships
Teacher’s Note
Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics consists
of four sections. Before you visit the exhibition,
spend some time viewing the information on the
Web site to begin planning your visit. We also
recommend our quick fun facts and pre-activities
to introduce your students to the scientific
complexities of the exhibition and focusing on one
or two sections within the exhibition to study in
depth. Each section has an introduction, guiding
questions, answers to guiding questions, suggested
pre-activities, field trip activities and post-activities
to help guide your students’ experience.
© Stepan Bartos
Visit us on-line at
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/mendel/
Oil Painting of Abbot Gregor Mendel
His life was remarkable: a 19th. century friar and high school science teacher whose brilliant experiment with ordinary
peas revealed the laws of heredity. Regarded as the father of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel and his work are
presented in the fascinating Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics at The Field Museum in Chicago.
Original manuscripts, photographs, and scientific instruments evoke the world of scientists in the 1800s and early 1900s.
You’ll see most of the only remaining artifacts from the life of this great scientist. Plus, hands-on interactive displays
allow you to conduct Mendel’s famous pea experiment yourself.
Trace Mendel’s influence on the rise of genetics and meet “modern Mendels”—scientists on the cutting edge of the
field today. Throughout the exhibition, contemporary works of art that are inspired by genetics reflect the spirit, insight,
and curiosity that drive scientists. Originally ignored by the scientific community, Mendel’s wondrous discoveries and
his dramatic story are given new life at The Field Museum.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Overview
Page 2
Corresponding Illinois Learning Standards (ILS)
The Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) define what all students in all Illinois public schools should know and be able
to do in the seven core areas as a result of their elementary and secondary schooling. The classroom assessments are
resources to help teachers determine local performance expectations for the Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) at each
grade level. For more information on the ILS visit www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/Default.
Use of the materials in this Educator Guide in combination with a field trip to the exhibition will help you link
learning experiences to the following Illinois Learning Standards (ILS). Teachers will need to identify descriptors and
benchmarks to individual lesson plans, larger units of study, and to specific subject area. This exhibition, while suitable
for all students regardless of grade level, maps closely to concepts studied in later elementary, middle school, and high
school.
English Language Arts:
Goal 1: Reading; Goal 2: Literature; Goal 3: Writing; Goal 4: Listening; Goal 5: Research
Mathematics:
Goal 6: Number Sense; Goal 7: Estimations & Measurement; Goal 8: Analytical Methods; Goal 9: Geometry; Goal 10:
Data Analysis & Probability
Science:
Goal 11: Inquiry & Design; Goal 12: Concepts & Principals; Goal 13: Science, Technology, & Society
Social Sciences:
Goal 14: Political Systems; Goal 15: Economics; Goal 16: History; Goal 17: Geography;
Goal 18: Social Systems
Fine Arts:
Goal 25: Language of the Arts; Goal 27: Arts & Civilization
Foreign Languages:
Goal 29: Culture & Geography
Social/Emotional Learning (SEL):
Goal 1: Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success.
Goal 2: Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • ILS
Page 3
Words To Know
Heredity: Heredity is the passing of traits from one generation to the next. A trait is a notable feature or quality.
Naturalist: A naturalist is a person who studies nature (including plants and animals) and natural history (how plants
and animals evolve).
Botany: Botany is a specialized branch of biology
dealing with plant life.
Monastery: A monastery is the habitation of monks,
derived from the Greek word for a hermit’s cell.
Monk: A monk is a person who practices asceticism,
the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the
spirit. The concept is very ancient and can be seen in
many religions.
Astronomy: The scientific study of the universe,
including the solar system, stars and galaxies.
© Stepan Bartos
Meteorology: Meteorology is the scientific study of
the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and
forecasting.
Meteorological Observations Taken in Brno, October
1878 by Gregor Mendel
Physics: The study of how objects (from the very tiny to the very big) behave.
Greenhouse: Structure used for growing plants. Natural sunlight comes in through glass or plastic panels and the
temperature and humidity is controlled to provide ideal growing conditions.
Plant Hybrid: The offspring of two plants of different species or varieties of plants. Hybrids are created when the
pollen from one kind of plant is used to pollinate an entirely different variety, resulting in a new plant altogether.
Preformation: A theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple
enlargement of a tiny, fully-formed organism that exists in the germ cell.
Evolution: Evolution is the accumulation of inherited changes in populations of organisms over the course of
generations. Evolution explains how what we see today may differ from the past. Evolutionary theory explains the
diversity of life through descent with modification.
Theory: A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted
knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; theories can incorporate
facts and laws and tested hypotheses.
Pangenesis: Pangenesis was Charles Darwin’s hypothetical mechanism for heredity, an early and inaccurate idea that
acquired characteristics of parents are blended and transmitted to their offspring.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Words to Know
Page 4
Words to know
DNA: DNA—DeoxyriboNuckeic Acid—is the instructions for building parts of the cell. The information in DNA is
stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
Natural Selection: Natural selection is the basic Darwinian
explanation for what drives evolution: organisms that are better adapted
to their environment are more likely to survive and therefore more likely
to pass along their characteristic genes.
Artificial Selection: Artificial selection is evolution guided by humans,
which encourages the breeding of certain traits over others.
Cytology: The study of the structure and function of a cell.
Chromosomes: Packages of compact DNA. Each human cell holds 46
chromosomes.
Eugenics: Eugenics is a misguided branch of study devoted to the
“improvement” of the human race. Forms of eugenics led to the
sterilization of “defective persons” immigration restrictions against the
“socially inadequate”, and Nazi Germany’s policies of “race hygiene.”
©2006 The Field Museum/D. Quednau
Lysenkoism: Lysenkoism was a Soviet doctrine under Stalin, which
argued that an organism’s heredity make-up was determined by its
environment only, and that in this doctrine, genes did not exist.
Human Genome Project: The Human Genome Project is a government
funded and international research project to map each human gene and
to completely sequence human DNA. Estimates suggest that there are
approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA.
DNA model
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Words to Know
Page 5
Introduction to the Exhibition
“It’s just a little trick, but there is a long story connected with it in which it would take too long.” G. Mendel to C.W. Eiching
(Eiching visited Mendel in 1878; his record of the meeting was published in an article “I talked with Mendel” in 1942.)
Heredity
Heredity is how traits get passed from parents to offspring in animals and plants. It’s why some “grey squirrels” are black,
why the corn we eat is plumper than what the Pilgrims grew, and why Tiger Woods has hazel eyes. Its outward signs are
obvious, but scientists from Aristotle onward could only speculate about its internal causes.
In 1865, a scientifically inclined priest changed all that. Through his experiments with pea plants, Father Gregor Mendel
outlined the basic laws of heredity—which were then overlooked for thirty-five years. When his findings were finally
embraced in the early 1900s, the science of genetics was born. We invite you to meet Gregor Mendel, ponder the riddle
he unraveled, and explore the advances made by his scientific “descendants.”
It aims to unravel the “little trick” and “long story” of Mendel’s discovery. Behind much of today’s scientific research lie
the groundbreaking theories of “the father of genetics,” Gregor Mendel. This friar, naturalist, agriculturalist, and botanist
undertook revolutionary experiments that have shaped our modern understanding of genes, crossbreeding, and heredity.
The Field Museum’s new exhibition uses a compelling combination of rare artifacts and interactive technology to tell
the story of Mendel’s life and research in the 1800s, chart the rise of classical genetics in the 1900s, and highlight the
work of Mendel’s present-day “heirs” who use genetics to study evolution, systematics, and biodiversity.
This exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of Mendel’s notes and correspondence, scientific instruments,
botanical specimens, seminal texts annotated in Mendel’s own hand, photographs and an oil painting of Mendel, and
related objects from Mendel’s home and laboratory, the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas in Brno, Czech Republic.
Courtesy of Vereinigung zur Förderung der Genomforschung
The exhibition brings to life other pioneering discoveries in
genetics through key publications, scientific illustrations, and
biological specimens. The exhibition also illuminates current
research with specimens, laboratory equipment, DNA sequence
data, and other relevant objects. Throughout the exhibition,
contemporary art inspired by genetic research underscores
the curiosity about life and nature that drives both artists and
scientists.
In addition to these remarkable artifacts, engaging interactives
encourage visitors to participate in hands-on explorations of
Mendel’s work, recreate his famous pea experiments, and learn
the fundamentals of genetics.
Map of Czech Republic
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Introduction
This unique exhibition goes beyond the human genome to
investigate how scientists use genetic research to learn more
about plants, animals, and environments. By highlighting the
dedication, hard work, and creative thinking that scientists from
the past and present apply to their research, the exhibition will
inspire young visitors to become the Mendel’s of tomorrow.
Page 6
SECTION ONE
Pre Mendel
Illustration: Greg Mercer
As far back as 10,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers
were selecting plants and animals with favored
traits for reproduction—the highest-yielding
vegetable, the sweetest fruit, the fastest horse,
or the fattest cow. What we call heredity was
recognized, but its causes were a mystery.
Seven Pairs of Contrasting Traits
Greek philosophers speculated about heredity
as far back as 400 BC, suggesting it worked as a
blending of particles or fluids from each parent.
By the seventeenth century, improved microscopes
provided a closer look at reproduction, but could
not penetrate the secrets of heredity. The leading
theory at this time, “preformation,” held that an
organism contained all of its future descendants,
encased in increasingly miniature forms.
Botanists began studying the characteristics of plant hybrids in the 1700s, noting similarities between parents and
offspring. Meanwhile, livestock breeders in England and Europe were using selective breeding to get woollier sheep and
meatier cattle. Naturalists of this era probed life under microscopes and conducted breeding experiments, both to track
traits across generations and to explore evolutionary connections among species. But most of them still promoted a
“blending” model almost identical to the ancient Greeks’.
The great naturalist Charles Darwin bred plants and animals to study species variation. He knew that a mechanism for
heredity was essential to his theory of evolution (belief that all living things are related), and he too promoted a blending
theory (which he called “pangenesis”). But he was dissatisfied with it, and admitted in On the Origin of Species
(1859) that “the laws governing inheritance are quite unknown.” What he didn’t know then was that all of evolution’s
adaptations involve a change in DNA.
As he wrote these words, however, an inquisitive friar in a garden in Central Europe was conducting experiments that
held the answer to the riddle and the eventual revolutionary understanding of genetics and DNA.
Guiding Questions
1. Who was Charles Darwin and for what is he most famous?
2. What is a botanist? What is a naturalist?
3. What is pangenesis? Preformation?
4. What is evolution? Evolutionary theory?
5. What is natural selection?
6. What is selective breeding? Domestication?
7. How did Neolithic peoples selectively breed plants and animals without the benefit of our modern technologies?
8. What is heredity?
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section one • Pre Mendel
Page 7
SECTION ONE
Pre Mendel
Pre-Activities
1.View Video Who is Charles Darwin at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/teachstuds/svideos.html. Ask
students to make notes of points that interest them and anything that may need more explanation. Break into small
groups for discussion of issues.
2. Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution challenged the pervading belief of divine will and profoundly changed the
way the world was viewed. Human curiosity about the natural world continuously challenges popular opinions and
scientific theories. Divide the class into groups and assign as topics for investigation some once prominent scientific
theories. Suggested topics can include the earth is flat; geocentrism (the sun orbits the earth); Dante’s explanation of
the four elements, fire, earth, water, and air; divine will, preformation and pangenes. Have students research the major
components of these “theories”, the period of history in which they were prevalent, and how they may have fallen
out of disfavor. Present findings to class.
3. Have students create a narrative entitled “My Life in Science.” What kind of scientist would they be and why? What
interests in the natural world led them to this field? Did they make any revolutionary discoveries? Visit http://www.
nhm.ac.uk/kids-only/get-the-facts/ologist/ for some inspiration.
4. Query the class about artificial selection and natural selection. What is the difference between the two? What
examples in our modern life can students give of artificially selected life forms and naturally selected life forms? How
do they support their theories? Some helpful websites for this discussion include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_selection,
http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/evolution/naturalselection/section3.rhtml,
http://www.nhm.org/exhibitions/dogs/evolution/selection/natural.html, and
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/essential/life/session5/closer1.html.
Field Trip Activities
1. Review panels in this section: Early Scientists, Crossbreeding, and Charles Darwin. Have students identify and define
preformation, blending, and pangenesis, the various models used to describe heredity before Mendel.
2. Encourage students to visit the exhibition Inside Ancient Egypt. This culture and civilization thrived due to its selective
breeding and domestication of wild grains (wheat). What can students discern about the connection between plant
domestication (artificial selection) and its relationship to culture and civilization? Make notes on their findings for
further discussion in class.
3.Visit The Field Museum’s exhibition Plants of the World. This exhibition contains 5 different botanical scenes. Divide
the class into 5 groups and assign a botanical scene to each group. Have students identify and sketch the various
species they observe. How many different life forms can they identify?
4.Visit the World of Mammals exhibition on the main floor of the Field Museum. Spend time in the “Carnivore Corner”
where the relatives of domestic dogs and cats reside. In pairs, identify and locate two relatives of dogs and two relatives
of cats.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section one • Pre Mendel
Page 8
SECTION ONE
Pre Mendel
Post-Activities
1.Visit the PBS Evolution website and read about Darwin and evolution at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/
Watch the video “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” Ask students to write a few paragraphs summarizing the importance of
Darwin’s dangerous idea.
2.View The National Center of Science Education’s website to see what some major religious organizations are saying
about evolution. http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/7445_statements_from_religious_org_12_19_2002.
asp. In small groups, randomly select one of the statements from the represented religious organizations and read and
discuss the content. Create a chart highlighting the major ideas of the statements. Ask students to present findings in
class. What are the similarities or differences among the different organizations?
3. Cats and dogs were some of the first animals humans selectively bred.Visit National Geographic at http://www7.
nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2002/01/01/html/ft_20020101.1.html and read about the evolution of dogs
from wolves. Also visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/dogs/world.html to interactively hone your knowledge
about the variety of dog breeds around the world.
4. Research the history of wheat online at http://www.farmdirect.co.uk/farming/stockcrop/wheat/wheathist.html
and http://library.thinkquest.org/5443/whistory.html. Combine this new information with experiences at Mendel
and Inside Ancient Egypt Exhibition to explore as a class how knowledge of heredity (i.e. which grains would be most
productive, nutritious, etc.) interacts with culture and civilization.
5. Ask students to create through illustration a crossbred or blended plant or animal using an illustration.
A Look at Four Offspring from Two Peas
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section one • Pre Mendel
Page 9
SECTION ONE
Pre Mendel
Answers to Guiding Questions
1. Charles Darwin was an English naturalist fascinated by nature. His keen observations and explorations of the natural
world led to his most famous work On the Origins of Species. Origins reflected his observations that all living things
are related and introduced the scientific theory of natural selection. This work influenced scientific, political, religious,
and cultural revolutions throughout the world.
2. A botanist is a specialist in a branch of biology dealing with plant life. A naturalist is a person who studies nature
(including plants and animals) and natural history (how plants and animals evolve).
3. Pangenesis was Charles Darwin’s hypothetical mechanism for heredity, an early and inaccurate idea that acquired
characteristics of parents are blended and transmitted to their offspring. Preformation was a popular theory in the
18th century that all parts of an organism exist completely formed in the germ cell and develops only by increasing
in size.
4. Evolution is the accumulation of
inherited changes in populations
of organisms over the course of
generations. Evolution explains how
what we see today may differ from
the past. Evolutionary theory explains
the diversity of life through descent
with modification.
© Stepan Bartos
5. Natural selection is the basic
Darwinian explanation for what
drives evolution: organisms that are
better adapted to their environment
are more likely to survive and
therefore more likely to pass along
their characteristic genes).
6. Selective breeding is the selection
Plans for the Greenhouse Constructed for Mendel’s Experiments
of certain seeds or animals for
reproduction in order to influence the traits inherited by the next generation. Mendel selectively bred pea plants in
his experimentations. Domestication is the process of genetically adapting an animal or plant to better suit the needs
of human beings. Agriculture is the domestication of plants.
7. Wild plants were transformed into crops by Neolithic peoples through artificial selection. Artificial selection is
evolution guided by humans, which encourages the breeding of certain traits over others. Though they did not possess
the knowledge of genes and heredity or the technology we do today, their methods relied informally on observation,
theories, and experimentation.
8. Heredity is the passing of traits from one generation to the next. A trait is a notable feature or quality.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section one • Pre Mendel
Page 10
Courtesy of the Mendelianum, Brno, Czech Republic
SECTION TWO
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
The son of poor tenant farmers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Johann Mendel was
introduced early to science. From his father he learned to grow plants and graft fruit
trees, and his grade school curriculum included natural science and agriculture. Johann’s
prospects were limited, but the priesthood offered a stable livelihood and a scholarly life.
Gregor Mendel
In 1843, at age 21, he joined the Augustinian Monastery in Brünn, taking the name
Gregor in the Abbey of St. Thomas, of which he became the abbot in 1867. At the
beginning of the 19th century, Brünn, capital of the province of Moravia—then a region
of the Austrian-Hungarian empire—was a culturally active, multi-lingual city. Mendel,
who took part in the social and cultural life of the town, gained titles such as that first of
Vice-President, and then President of the local Mortgage Bank, the Hypotheque Bank. He
was especially known for his activity as a teacher, for his interest in meteorology and in
the breeding of bees.
The Abbey was a very supportive environment for Mendel’s scientific inclinations due partially to the AustroHungarian empire 1780s policy forcing religious institution to serve the State as well as the Church. The Abbey became
a vibrant center of research, whose friars were active in the sciences, linguistics, literature, and philosophy. Many were
distinguished scholars in their chosen fields, and most taught at nearby high schools and universities. After a year of
parish work, Mendel spent two years teaching mathematics and science at local high schools—before returning to
school in 1851, at age twenty-nine. He attended the University of Vienna for two years, studying with noted physicists,
mathematicians, and botanists.
Mendel’s own systematic experiments on pea plants were started in 1856 in the Abbey’s greenhouse. In 1865 Mendel
presented his seminal paper on pea hybrids, Experiments in Plant Hybridization, and in 1866 this was published in the
proceedings of the local Society for Natural Sciences.Yet, over fifty years later, the monk who experimented on pea hybrids
was to be acclaimed as the father of classical genetics. The concepts he established in 1865 came to be known universally
as Mendel’s laws of heredity, and the man himself came to be regarded as the “father of genetics”.
This exhibition goes beyond the romantic myth of the isolated friar undertaking incongruous experiments with peas; it explores
“Mendel the man”, and what led to the formulation of his laws of heredity.
Guiding Questions:
1. What is a friar, monastery, abbey or an Augustinian?
2. Where is Moravia? What was the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
3. What is science? What is a scientific theory? What is a scientific hypothesis?
4. What is hybridization?
5. How could a religious man reconcile his findings regarding genes and evolution?
6. How did Mendel’s exposure and interest in astronomy, meteorology, and physics
influence his work in plant hybridization?
7. What is a gene? What is heredity?
8. How did Mendel conduct his pea experiments?
9. What are Mendel’s Laws?
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section two • Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Page 11
SECTION TWO
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Pre-Activities:
1. Find Mendel’s home on a contemporary map. Locate continent, country, and city. What do we know about this part
of the world? Study this area as a tourist destination and create an itinerary including specific places of interest, the
food you might eat, and how you will travel. Assign a variety of budgets to students and compare travel experiences.
2. Read about Gregor Mendel and the Mechanism of Heridity at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/1/l_061_01.html.
Have students read the definitions of the highlighted words, genomes, chromosomes, genes, trait, and heredity.
3. Take a walk in Mendel Park http://ology.amnh.org/genetics/naturewalk/index.html Identify whether the traits
described are attributed to nature, nurture, or both.
4. As a class, ask students to list what they already know about genes and heredity.
Guide students to better understand genes by selecting a “Gene Scene” activity for the class from The Field Museum’s
Biodiversity Web site http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/illinois_basics/Activity1-4.pdf.
5. Mendel conducted most of his research at an Augustinian Abbey. Go on an expedition with a Field Museum
scientist to better understand how they conduct their research both in the museum and in the field. http://www.
fieldmuseum.org/expeditions/. Write a brief biography about the scientist you chose.
6. Go on a nature walk around your school or home. Ask students to collect botanical samples of the possible leaves,
flowers, grasses, etc. they encounter.
Field Trip Activities:
1. Identify Mendel’s other scientific interests and make note of them in a journal.
2.View video on Mendel’s life, work, and influence. Survey students about what they learned.
3. Walk through the Shadowbox Theater: The Pea Experiments At the interactive stations, step into Mendel’s shoes
and conduct your own pea experiment. Observe the scientific equipment displayed and before reading the captions,
surmise what its use may have been.
Answer the following questions:
1. What did Mendel observe in the hybrids he created from ornamental plants?
2. How many varieties of peas did Mendel breed for his experiments?
3. How did Mendel cross the plants?
4. Are factors of traits passed along independently of each other?
Answers:
1. Regular Patterns.
2. 22
3. C
ross-pollination—taking the pollen from the stamen of one parent plant, and brushing it on the pistil of the one
with the contrasting trait.
4.Yes
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section two • Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Page 12
SECTION TWO
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Post-Activities:
1. Ask students to draw a scientist. This can be an actual person or a reflection of students’ perception of the typical
scientist. Share drawings with the class and explore the race, ethnicities, genders, and nationalities represented, as
well as the types of science the illustrations may be practicing. Are there discernible patterns? What might these
representations signify? What kinds of stereotypes about scientists did this activity reveal?
2. Divide students into groups and have each group review a current newspaper or newsmagazine. Ask students to find
stories relating to science. Look for the “science” in such topics such as art, medicine, law, weather, technology or
human interest. Create a science newsletter with the information gathered.
3. Go on a genetic journey at http://ology.amnh.org/genetics/geneticjourney/index.html
and discover some genetic facts about yourself.
4. Conduct a scientific methods experiment in order to understand how probability is determined and why the number
of times Mendel conducted his experiments can affect the outcome.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=9&DocID=389
5. Research the political history of Mendel’s home region over the past 150 years. Map the region and create a timeline
of important political and historical events.
6. Engage in some virtual pea experiments with the help of Mendel himself. http://www2.edc.org/weblabs/Mendel/
MendelMenu.html
7. Discuss how institutions such as the Field Museum can contribute to knowledge, understanding of the world, and
inspiration. Write an essay on how museums inspire you and contribute to your knowledge of the world.
©The Field Museum GN90811_48d
8. Drawing on the list of Mendel’s influences
from the field-trip activity, divide the class into
3 groups and assign the topics “Meterology”
(tsunamis, global warming), “Astronomy”
(Mars exploration, space shuttle), and “Physics”
(sound waves, laser technology, superconductors), one to each group. Survey current
magazines or newspapers to find out what is
going on in these fields today. Make a poster
highlighting your findings and present to the
class. Are there any overlapping areas?
Field Museum DNA Lab
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section two • Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Page 13
SECTION TWO
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Answers to Guiding Questions
Monastery vs. Abbey
Strictly speaking a monastery is the dwelling of monks, and a
friary that of friars. In modern usage, monastery has become
commonplace designation for dwelling places of any religious
communities, but it still carries the connotations of isolation and
cloister, which was not and is not true for all religious orders. “Abbey”
generally designates a monastery (a community of monks) under
the leadership of an abbot. Mendel’s abbey was an exception in that it
was a community of friars under the leadership of an abbot.
2. Moravia is an historical region of the Eastern Czech Republic. The
Austro-Hungarian Empire, also known as Austria-Hungary, or the
Mendel with Friars
Hapsburg Empire, was ruled by the Habsburg monarchy from 1867
to 1918. Austria-Hungary extended over most of central Europe. It was comprised of the modern day countries of
Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, as well as parts of present-day Poland, Romania, Italy, Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
© Stepan Bartos
1. Friar vs. Monk
A friar is a member of one of the “mendicant” orders (originally forbidden to own property, dependant on
donations—begging—for a living). The four great orders of friars are the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites,
and the Augustinians. The word friar is to be carefully distinguished in its application from the word monk. For the
monk retirement and solitude are undisturbed by the public ministry, unless under exceptional circumstances. In the
life of the friar, on the contrary, the exercise of the sacred ministry is an essential feature, for which the life of the
cloister is considered as but an immediate preparation [from New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia]. From its founding in
1256, the Augustinian order, to which Mendel belonged, focused on education and scientific study as well public
ministry and missionary work.
3. Science is a way of knowing about the natural world based upon observations, hypotheses, and facts that are testable
and can be confirmed or disproved using scientific technique. A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation
of the natural world utilizing many confirmed observations, laws, and successfully verified hypotheses. A scientific
hypothesis is a testable statement or observation of some aspect of the natural world.
4. In genetics, hybridization is the process of mixing different species or varieties of organisms. Gregor Mendel used
artificial cross-pollination to hybridize the pea plants in his experiments.
5. As of now, we have no record regarding Mendel’s thoughts regarding the relationship between his religious beliefs and
his scientific endeavors.
6. Like many scientists of his day, Mendel did not specialize in just one subject—he was an astronomer, meteorologist,
and physicist, as well as an experimental botanist. These diverse interests were united by the mathematical principles
that Mendel applied to them. Mendel’s record of meteorological variations demonstrates his meticulous attention
to his data. Mendel’s plant-breeding experiments were rooted in the same principles as his meteorological work: the
observation of natural phenomena, and the statistical calculation of variations.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section two • Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
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SECTION TWO
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
7. G
enes are the basic biological units of heredity. They are composed of DNA. Heredity is the passing of traits from
one generation to the next. A trait is a notable feature or quality.
8. M
endel began his experiments by selecting twenty-four varieties or peas, which he grew for two years to assure that
they “bred true”— with subsequent generations identical to the original plants. Once confident of their purity, he
began to cross-different varieties. Mendel grew his peas in a specially built greenhouse, and in garden plots on the
abbey grounds.
9. M
endel proposed that traits result from “factors” passed by parents to successive generations according to set ratios.
The factors for any trait come in pairs—one from each parent. These factors are sometimes expressed and sometimes
concealed, but never lost. During reproduction, the factors separate and pass on with equal frequency to the next
generation, and they travel independently of any other factor. Later scientists labeled these ideas the “principle of
segregation” and “the principle of independent assortment”—also known as “Mendel’s Laws’.
© Stepan Bartos
10. Using the botanical samples collected, ask students to choose a favorite for students’ research and identification.
Make a photogram or “sun print”. Some useful websites for explaining photogram and sun print techniques:
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/youth/dwl/680620_e.jsp
http://depts.washington.edu/rural/RURAL/resources/photogram.html
http://faculty.cva.edu/LMI/lesson16-sunprints.html
Mendel’s Book on Cells
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section two • Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
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SECTION THREE
Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
While Mendel’s paper languished, unread, in libraries across Europe and the US,
scientific inquiry into the mysteries of heredity carried on. As hybridists continued
their experiments, another branch of heredity science sprouted: cytology, the study
of the structure and function of the cell. Thanks to improved microscopes and
better techniques for staining cells, scientists were finally able to probe an amazing
new world—one that would ultimately reveal the mechanics of what Mendel had
proposed.
© Stepan Bartos
In 1900, three European botanists brought Mendel’s pea paper to light. Carl
Correns, Hugo de Vries, and Erich von Tschermak referred to Mendel’s Versuche
in their papers on hybridization. Wilhelm Focke’s mention of Mendel in his
bibliography led these experimenters—directly or indirectly—to Mendel’s paper
and their publications at last pulled the veil of obscurity from Mendel’s findings.
Mendel’s Microscope
While the “Mendelian” breeders continued charting hereditary patterns in pea
plants, roosters, and rabbits, the cell biologists, working with simple organisms like
sea urchins—which had few, easily visible chromosomes—were making stunning
new discoveries through their microscope lenses. The chromosomes’ patterns of
division suggested to some scientists that they might be the carriers of heredity,
and by 1903 the cytologists made the connection between chromosomes and
Mendel’s laws.
Deoxyribonucleic acid—originally called nuclein—was discovered in 1869, just three years after Mendel’s pea paper. By
the mid-1940s DNA was largely accepted as the carrier of genetic information, but how it copied itself, to pass on the
hereditary “code,” was unknown. The molecular structure was the key, and by the early fifties a race to determine that
structure was on. Two pairs of scientists working in England—competing teams joined in an uneasy collaboration—won
the race in 1953.
The structure of DNA is regarded today as the most important biological discovery since Mendel, and its reception by
the scientific community would have been familiar to the friar. Watson and Crick’s paper was largely ignored—although
for only a few years, not decades. The double helix theory was eventually confirmed, marked a new era in genetics,
rooted in Mendel’s work, and enabling the next generation to make more dramatic discoveries about the natural world.
Guiding Questions
1. What is cytology? What are chromosomes?
2. What is eugenics?
3. What is “Lysenkoism”? What do we mean by nature versus nurture?
4. Who are Watson and Crick?
5. What is DNA? What is a double helix theory?
6. What are specific ways evolution has affected us today? How do human beings affect evolution?
7. What is the Human Genome Project?
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section three • Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
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SECTION THREE
Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
Pre-Activities
1. Play the double Helix Game and read more about DNA at
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/dna_double_helix/index.html
Make a list of what you learned, and what new questions you may have about DNA.
2. Read about cracking the genetic code and play a game at
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/gene-code/index.html.
3. Watch the movie Life Story or The Race for the Double Helix (American title), a dramatized account of the discovery of
DNA’s structure. Have student write a short summary of their thoughts and feelings toward this subject.
4. Draw a pedigree of your own family. Start with your maternal and paternal grandparents. Include aunts, uncles, and
cousins. If possible add great-grandparents. Make note of place of birth, ethnicity, hair and eye color, and any other
factors you think important. http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/diy/genealogy.html
5. Ask students to come up with 2 or 3 questions they would like to have answered about the exhibition.
Field Trip Activities
1. Read about Lysenkoism with the class. Ask students to form an opinion about whether nature or nurture is more
important in shaping our heredity. These ideas will be formalized later in class.
2. Ask each student to identify one scientist (other than Mendel) of interest in the exhibition. Make brief notes about
his or her experiments and contributions.
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy: Lisson Gallery
3.Visit the section of the exhibit discussing the
discovery of DNA’s structure. If you were a
journalist, what questions would you have for
these scientists?
4. The Pritzker Laboratory is dedicated to the
genetic analysis and preservation of the world’s
biodiversity. Have students look at the largescale mural of the lab. Ask students to write
a paragraph describing what they see and
hypothesize about what our scientists are doing.
Have two or three students share their thoughts.
Christine Borland
Detail from A Treasury of Human Inheritance, Entres case
2001
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section three • Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
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SECTION THREE
Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
Post-Activities
© Courtesy of Susan Derge
1. Read about what the Field Museum is doing about biodiversity and conservation.
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/ In what ways do biodiversity and
conversation influence evolution and genetic diversity? Make notes and discuss findings
with class.
Susan Derges
Vessel, 1 - 6
2001
2.Visit the website http://www.dnai.org/a/index.html. In the module bar select
“Finding the Structure” and select “players” tab. Watch interviews and hear firsthand
the experiences of the principal investigators of DNA’s structure. Make a model of the
double helix structure. James Watson made his model out of cardboard, but feel free to
get creative by using candy, beads, styrofoam, and origami.Visit Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory’s DNA website http://www.dnai.org/teacherguide/guide.html to get
instructions and template for origami double helix. Or Planet Science’s website http://
www.planetscience.com/outthere/index.html?page=/outthere/diner/play/09.html for
a delicious candy model.
3. Drawing from the family trees made in the Pre-Activity, ask students to explore how DNA can fill in gaps or
enrich the knowledge they have about their own heredity and genetic past.Visit http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/
index.html for PBS’s website on the series African American Lives. Discover how modern genetics can affect our
knowledge and perception of our familial and genetic past.
4. Research the current debate concerning genetically modified foods. Divide students into two groups. One group
will research the possible risks or dangers of genetic engineering and the other will research possible benefits. Choose
spokespersons from each group to argue their findings.
5. Divide the class into small groups and ask them to research the ways on which politics influences science. Assign
topics such as Copernicus, Lysenkoism, Nazi eugenics, and stem cell research, or the Human Genome Project. In
what ways has or does politics control and utilize scientific knowledge and information? Present findings to the class
and compare and contrast similarities and differences among the topics.
6. Have students construct a graphic organizer to illustrate what they have learned from the exhibition. Why is this topic
important to me? How is this issue related to what we are studying? What new vocabulary did I learn? What else do I
need to know about this issue?
8. Profile a “Modern Mendel,” a present-day scientist who applies Mendel’s theories to fields such as conservation,
biological anthropology, and evolution.Visit the Field Museum biodiversity webpage and find a scientist to profile.
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/scientist.html
9. Research the scientist in the exhibit who interested you and write a brief biography of his or her experiments and
accomplishments.
10. Drawing from the Field Trip Activity #1, divide the class in 2 groups, those who favored nature and those who
favored nurture. Have the groups discuss how, or if, their views changed following the exhibition. What important
aspects of the exhibition helped formulate their current views?
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section three • Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
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SECTION THREE
Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
Answers to Guiding Questions
1. Cytology is the study of cell anatomy and function. Chromosomes are packages of compact DNA. Each human cell
holds 46 chromosomes.
2. Eugenics is a misguided branch of study devoted to the “improvement” of the human race. Sinister forms of eugenics
led to the sterilization of “defective persons”, immigration restrictions against the “socially inadequate”, and Nazi
Germany’s policies of “race hygiene.”
3. Lysenkoism was a Soviet doctrine under Stalin, which argued that an organism’s heredity make-up was determined
by its environment only and that genes did not exist. Nature versus nurture is a shorthand expression for debates
about the relative importance of an individual’s genetic qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in
determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.
4. James Watson and Francis Crick of Cambridge University, and Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin of King’s
College were the teams of scientists credited with discovering DNA’s double-helix structure in 1953.
5. DNA—DeoxyriboNuckeic Acid—are the instructions for building parts of the cell. The information in DNA is
stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). The double
helix is one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time. First described by James Watson and Francis Crick in
1953, DNA is the famous molecule of genetics that establishes each organism’s physical characteristics.
6. Human activities influence evolution in many ways.
During the last 50 years, over 500 species of insects have
become resistant to pesticides. Our destruction of habitats
has endangered species and reduced populations have
declined so that their genetic diversity has decreased and
their ability to adapt to environmental changes. Our use
of technology is allowing us to alter the evolution of
many species besides our own. We have a responsibility to
continue to learn how to use our knowledge of evolution
wisely to minimize the deleterious effects we have on the
biosphere (The portion of Earth and its atmosphere that
can support life).
© Field Museum GN90796d
7. The Human Genome Project is a government funded
and international research project to map each human
gene and to completely sequence human DNA. Estimates
suggest that there are approximately 20,000-25,000 genes
in human DNA.
Fruit Fly Eyes
The Field Museum • Educator Guide Part • Section three • Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise of Classical Genetics to DNA
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SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
Help your students unravel Mendel’s scientific legacy with this fact-filled, hands-on exhibition. They’ll learn about
Mendel’s life and how his experiments are influencing modern scientific research, then get to try their hand at
completing one of his experiments! Help complete the exhibition experience by registering for a Mendel-themed
student class on the day of the trip. Pre-registration is required for students to visit this special exhibition. Indicate your
interest on your field trip registration form or register on-line at www.fieldmuseum.org/fieldtrips. Requests are filled
on a first-come, first-served basis.
Student Classes
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas (Grades 2-5)
Cheryl Bardoe, Author
Combine math, science, history and writing into one interactive program for your students. Hear excerpts from
Bardoe’s book, Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas, learn the basics of heredity, and engage in hands-on
activities based on Mendel’s experiments.
Thursdays, October 5, 19, 26, November 2, 9, or 16, 2006
10am–12:30pm (includes exhibition tour) $3 per Chicago student, $4 per non-Chicago student
From Genes to Jeans (Grades 3-8)
Delve into the research of geneticists and cultural anthropologists who are helping unravel the secrets of our DNA.
Get an insider’s look at Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, then look closely at the characteristics of
different cultures of the world through a look at the Museum’s sculpture collections.
Tuesdays, September 18, 2006-April 1, 2007, 10am-12:30pm
$3 per Chicago student, $4 per non-Chicago student
Teacher Workshops
Educator Previews: Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics and Massive Change:
The Future of Global Design (Grades 5-12)
Get an interdisciplinary look at two extraordinary exhibitions.Visit Massive Change at the Museum of
Contemporary Art and explore ideas for global design that are reshaping our future, both socially and scientifically.
Then spend the afternoon examining Gregor Mendel at the Field, with particular emphasis on the exhibition’s
educator guide featuring pre-, during and post-field trip activities to do with your students!
Saturday, October 7, 2006, 8:30am-4:30pm
$65, members $60; 8 CPDUs
The Chicago presentation of Massive Change: The Future of Global Design at the Museum of Contemporary Art is generously
sponsored by Target. Teacher workshops at the MCA are provided by Kraft Foods. The Scientific Method: Science + Society (Grades 4-12)
See how scientists view the natural world through the interactions of the creative human mind by visiting the
Gregor Mendel exhibition.You’ll explore how science and society go hand-in-hand through Museum exhibitions. Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 5–8pm
$18, members $15; 3 CPDUs
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
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SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
Teacher Workshops (contiued)
Planting the Seeds of Genetics (Grades 4-12)
Peek inside the world of the 19th-century friar who first discovered how genetic traits are inherited—one of the
most enduring and influential findings in scientific history.You’ll explore the Gregor Mendel exhibition with an
Field Museum scientist, then develop hands-on activities for your classroom.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007, 5-8pm
$20, members $18; 3 CPDUs
Books for Teachers
Balkwill, Frances R., and Mic Rolph. Gene Machines (Enjoy your Cells Series 4). Location: Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Press, 2002.
Bier, Ethan. The Coiled Spring: How Life Begins. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2000.
Campbell, Neil A., and Jane B. Reece. Biology: Concepts and Connections. 7th ed. San Francisco: Addison Wesley,
Longman, 2004. (Ch 9, 10, 11, 12).
Carlson, Elof. Mendel’s Legacy:The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004.
Judson, Horace Freeland. The Eighth Day of Creation:The Makers of the Revolution in Biology. Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Press, 1996.
Lemonick, Michael D. “Brave New Pharmacy.” Time 15 Jan, 2001.
Lemonick, Michael D. “Mother Nature’s DNA.” Time 20 Jan, 2005.
Micklos, David, Greg A. Freyer, and David A. Crotty. DNA Science: A First Course. 2nd ed. Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, 2003.
Witherly, Jeffre, Galen P. Perry, and Darryl L. Leja. An A to Z of DNA Science:What Scientists Mean When They Talk
about Genes and Genomes. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2001.
Books for Students
Bankston, John. 2004. Gregor Mendel and the Discovery of the Gene (Uncharted, Unexplored, and Unexplained). Mitchell
Lane, 2004.
Bardoe, Cheryl, and Jos. A. Smith. 2006. Gregor Mendel:The Friar Who Grew Peas. Abrams Books for Young Readers,
in association with The Field Museum, 2006.
Davis, Joel L. Mapping the Code:The Human Genome Project and the Choices of Modern Science. 1st ed. Wiley, 1991.
Fedoroff, Nina V. and Nancy Marie Brown. 2006. Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist’s View of Genetically Modified
Foods. Joseph Henry, 2006.
Gonick, Larry, and Mark Wheelis. The Cartoon Guide to Genetics. Collins, 1991.
Henig, Robin Marantz. A Monk and Two Peas:The Story of Gregor Mendel and the Discovery of Genetics. Phoenix,
2001.
Henig, Robin Marantz. The Monk in the Garden:The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics.
Mariner, 2001.
Lawson, Kristin. Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities. Chicago Review, 2003.
Maddox, Brenda. Rosalind Franklin:The Dark Lady of DNA. HarperCollins, 2002.
McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. Nobel Prize Women in Science:Their Lives, Struggles and Momentous Discoveries. 2nd ed.
National Academies Press, 2001.
Robinson, Tara Rodden. Genetics For Dummies. For Dummies, 2005.
Watson, James D. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA.Touchstone, 2001.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
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SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
Web Site Resources
DNA Learning Center www.dnalc.org
Gregor Mendel www.mendelweb.org
Genetics Society of America http://www.genetics-gsa.org/
http://www.genetics.org/
DNA Forensics http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml
Genomic Art http://www.genomicart.org/genehome.htm
Web Genetics http://www.pbs.org/saf/1202/features/genelinks.htm
National Geographic study of the human journey https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html
Nobel Prize online http://nobelprize.org/
http://www.mendelweb.org/
Nova information on Mendel, evolution, genetics, etc. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/heredity.html
Evolution on the Frontline http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/evolution/
Mendel Museum http://www.mendel-museum.org/
Journal of Heredity “I Talked With Mendel” http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/33/7/243
PBS Evolution http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/
The Dog Genome Project http://mendel.berkeley.edu/dog/manifesto.html
Evolution of Cats http://www.fabcats.org/evolution.html
The field Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/pritzker_lab/pritzker/
index.html
Department of Energy: The Human Genome Project http://doegenomes.org/
Understanding Genetics http://www.thetech.org/genetics/
Council for Responsible Genetics http://www.gene-watch.org/index.html
American Museum of Natural History “The Gene Scene” http://ology.amnh.org/genetics/index.html
DVDs (These can be found at http://www.amazon.com/)
Nova - Cracking the Code of Life (2000)
PBS – Evolution (2000)
Biography - Charles Darwin: Evolution’s Voice (2004)
History Chanel - History’s Mysteries Buried Secrets Digging For DNA (2006)
Charlie Rose with James Watson & E.O. Wilson (December 14, 2005)
DNA: The Secret of Life
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
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SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
The Harris Educational Loan Center Resources
Experience Box
Patterns in Nature
The natural world is full of amazing designs. Use math skills to discover the pattern and symmetry in the
world around us.
Exhibit Case
Cereals
Cereal is more than just breakfast food—it’s an important group of grains, including wheat, rye, and oats, from all over
the world. The cultivation of these staples has a long and varied history, and its present uses include everything from
nourishment to laundry starch to straw hats.
AV Materials
Profile in Terror
Computers, lasers, DNA fingerprints, and psychological profiles assist the FBI in solving crimes.
Super Seeds
In Colombia, scientists use biotechnology to grow improved crops and teach farmers new techniques.
Courtesy of the Cornelia Hesse-Honegger.
Spiral of Silence
A scientist uses DNA testing to find out why half the residents of a Costa Rican community have become deaf
by middle age.
Cornelia Hesse-Honegger
Drosophila melanogaster eye II D
1986
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
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SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
Related field museum research
The Field Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution is a state-of-the-art research facility
dedicated to the genetic analysis and preservation of the world’s biodiversity. Each year this lab collects more than 70,000
DNA sequences, enabling Field Museum scientists to study plants and animals from around the world.
From birds to mushrooms to sharks, scientists investigate questions on a multitude of topics. How diverse are the warblers
of Central Africa? How many species of fungi are in that soil sample? Which male sired that shark pup? The methods
used to address these questions are remarkably similar across projects. Essentially, scientists compare DNA among
individuals, species, genera, or even at higher taxonomic levels. Thanks to the Pritzker Lab, scientists other researchers are
solving key questions about relationships among the diverse forms of life on Earth.
Meet the curators of Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics:
Dr. Shannon Hackett uses DNA research to create a family tree for birds.
On-line at http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/scientist_feature9.html
Dr. Kevin Feldheim studies of shark population genetics to help conserve threatened species.
On-line at http://www.fieldmuseum.org/biodiversity/scientist_feature3.html
RELATED EXHIBITIONS
What did the world look like through the eyes of a 500million-year-old trilobite? What could you see, hear, and smell
in the swampy forest that was Chicago…300 million years
ago? How would it feel to touch the face of our early human
cousins?
Evolving Planet takes visitors on an awe-inspiring journey
through 4 billion years of life on Earth, from single-celled
organisms to towering dinosaurs and our extended human
family. Unique fossils, animated videos, hands-on interactive
displays, and recreated sea- and landscapes help tell the
compelling story of evolution—the single process that
connects everything that’s ever lived on Earth. Free with
general admission. Ongoing, permanent exhibition. No tickets
are required for school groups.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
Page 24
SECTION FOUR
Resources for teachers and students
Fun facts about Mendel
• It took 34 years for the rest of the scientific community to catch up to his work.
• He is the Father of Genetics.
• He was an Augustinian Friar who taught natural science to high school students.
• He was born in Heinzendorf, Moravia (Czech Republic).
• His birth name was Johann. He took the name Gregor when he joined the Abbey.
• He was also interested in meteorology and theories of evolution.
• Mendel died in Brno, Chezk Republic from nephritis, inflammation of the kidneys.
• Mendel was very influenced by “Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin.
• Mendel failed his qualifying examination for his teacher certification.
• He invented the theories of heterozygosity and homozygosity
• His parents were peasant farmers.
• He taught at a school in the city of Znaim.
• I n 1900, three botanists, Hugo de Vries (Holland), Karl Correns (Germany), and E. Von Tschermak
(Austria) rediscovered his work.
• Mendel disagreed with a tax law and he would not pay his taxes.
• At the age of 21 he became a friar.
• S
hortly before he died, he said, “My scientific labors have brought me a great deal of satisfaction, and I
am convinced that before long the entire world will praise the results of these labors”.
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Section four • Resources for teachers and students
Page 25
Walking Map
Mendel: The Man and the Scientist
Rediscovery of Mendel, Rise
of Classical Genetics to DNA
Pre Mendel
Entrance/Exit
The Field Museum • Educator Guide • Walking map
Page 26