Arabidopsis thaliana, a model system for plant research, serves as the ideal organism for teaching a variety of basic genetic concepts including inheritance, genetic variation, segregation, and dominant and recessive traits. Rapid advances in the field of genetics make understanding foundational concepts, such as Mendel's laws, ever more important to today's biology student. Coupling these concepts with hands-on learning experiences better engages students and deepens their understanding of the topic. In our article, we present a teaching module from the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center as a tool to engage students in lab inquiry exploring Mendelian genetics. This includes a series of protocols and assignments that guide students through growing two generations of Arabidopsis, making detailed observations of mutant phenotypes, and determining the inheritance of specific traits, thus providing a hands-on component to help teach genetics at the middle and high school level.
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
It is not available for individual sale.
This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
It is not available for individual sale.

The American Biology Teacher
Vol. 80 • No. 4
April 2018
Vol. 80 • No. 4
April 2018
Arabidopsis
Genetics
inheritance
Mendel's laws
phenotype
segregation