Unit 4 Reflection

     In this unit we have been learning about genetics. To finish this unit, we did a Coin Sex Lab. In this lab, we taped coins and labeled both sides with either a dominant or recessive allele. We then flipped the coins to simulate the randomness that occurs during meiosis. In our dihybrid cross simulation, our results were quite close to our expected results. Our expected results included 9 brown hair brown eyes, 3 brown hair blue eyes, 3 blond hair brown eyes, and 1 blonde hair blue eyes. Our actual results were 8 brown hair brown eyes, 3 brown hair blue eyes, 5 blond hair brown eyes, and 0 blonde hair blue eyes. Our expected results were so close to the actual results because we used a punnet square to find the probability of the different outcomes. We learned that a dihybrid cross between two heterozygotes always creates a 9 to 3 to 3 to 1 ratio. Based on our results, we can see that this ratio is quite accurate. The limit of using probability to predict our offspring's traits are that we can never say if somehing will happen because although something may not be probable, it can still occur no matter how small the percentage. Understanding this relates to my life, because if I ever want to have a kid, then I can go to a geneticist to calculate the probability of my child having a disease.

     Unit 4 was all about genetics. The essential understandings of this unit included mitosis versus meiosis, asexual versus sexual reproduction, and genetic inheritance. A weakness that I encountered while learning about this unit is how similar the words meiosis and mitosis were. This similarity caused me some confusion and made me mix some parts of the two up. A strength I had in this unit was that the dihybrid crosses on the punnet squares were quite easy for me. The infographic definitely helped deepen my understanding of this unit. It was quite fun to make, and also helped me remember lots of important information. Overall, it also a very effective method to help to prepare for the unit test. I would like to learn more about crosses and inheritance. I think that this topic is  quite interesting,