Natural Science - Year II
Unit 45: Mendel and Inheritance
Parents Guide for Unit 45
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For 2026: Please note that units are considered "under revision" until two weeks before the class date, and page content, web assignments, and exercises may change before that deadline.
Parent Notes for Unit Unit 45: Mendel and Inheritance
Preparation
Below are notes on the main points of each assignment.
- History Web Lecture: We look at Mendel's specific accomplishments in his work with inheritance of 7 different traits in peas. We emphasize that the work Mendel did is a good example of the experimental method, and we talk about how the way scientific theories are published can affect their acceptance by the scientific community and the general public.
A new topic is the idea of statistical vs. absolute natural laws. This concept will play a major role in our discussion of thermodynamics and entropy, and in quantum mechanics, so it is important that students understand the difference, as well as the implications for predicting the behavior of systems and individual objects.
Please discuss with your student the study questions at the end of the web lecture.
- Science Web Lecture: Genetic Inheritance
The science weblecture covers the analysis of a pair of Mendel's "simple" traits (color and pea surface texture), where there are only two possibilities for each trait. Encourage your student to study the discussion of the Punnet Square in the weblecture, then to play with the Pea Soup site, to get an instinctive understanding of how dominant and recessive alleles (genetic codes) for a given gene are expressed or suppressed.
- Homework:
The homework questions focus on Mendel's accomplishments, and the key concepts students should understand in genetic inheritance theory as a result of the reading and discussion. Make sure that the student reads and attempts to answer the homework before chat, so that he can identify questions that need to be discussed in chat.
- Discussion:
We will focus on the practical application of Mendel's laws for simple traits, so that studens understand how they work -- and the limitations of statistical interpretations.
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