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Genetics construction kit: A tool for open-ended investigation in transmission genetics

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Abstract

GENETICS CONSTRUCTION KIT (GCK) is a learning tool developed as part of a BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium development project.GCK simulates the phenomena of classical transmission genetics. It enables students to mate simulated organisms and from these matings, infer the genetic mechanisms that account for their data. The unique feature ofGCK is it’s construction kit approach to creating problems. The construction kit is the “behind the scenes” mechanism by which users set the parameters of the problem sets that can be generated. This enables users to control the complexity of the problems to be solved without losing the ability to generate almost infinite numbers of problems. The genetics phenomena that can be simulated in up to six loci include simple dominance, co-dominance, and multiple alleles, plus linkage, sex linkage, and cross over events (students can calculate map distances) in the Macintosh version with the addition of epistasis and pleiotropy in the Apple II version.GCK has been used extensively in science education research to gain understanding of student learning and model construction and revision in genetics with respect to curriculum development.

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Author notes

  1. Patti Soderberg

    Present address: Department of Biology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, 53511, Beloit, WI

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

    Jim Stewart

  2. University of Arizona, USA

    John N. Calley

  3. Beloit College, USA

    John R. Jungck

Authors
  1. Patti Soderberg
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  2. Jim Stewart
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  3. John N. Calley
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  4. John R. Jungck
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Additional information

Patti Soderberg completed her undergraduate education in biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN in 1979 and taught high school biology at The Blake School in Minneapolis. She received her M.S. degree in science education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. Ms. Soderberg has taught courses in genetics and biotechnology for pre-college teachers and is involved in a K-12 instructional materials development project in genetics. Currently, she is the Director of the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium in the Department of Biology at Beloit College.

Jim Stewart is a professor of science education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Co-editor ofThe BioQUEST Library. He also has academic appointments in the Institute for Environmental Studies and the Center for Biology Education. His research interests are in the area of learning and problem solving in biology, particularly classical genetics.

John Calley is a graduate student in developmental moelcular biology at the University of Arizona. His research area is the establishment of the dorsal-ventral axis during Drosophila oogenesis. He plans to teach science education.

John R. Jungck is a professor of biology at Beloit College. He is Editor ofThe BioQUEST Library, an annual peer-reviewed publication of software and other curricular materials that support learning via research and research-like experiences. His research interests include genetic coding, molecular evolution, origins of life, mathematical modeling, and science-society issues.

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Soderberg, P., Stewart, J., Calley, J.N. et al. Genetics construction kit: A tool for open-ended investigation in transmission genetics. J. Comput. High. Educ. 5, 67–84 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02948571

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