We learned a lot of things from this project, some about genetics in general and others about scientific research. We learned about the study of genetics, and how we are linked in this way from one generation to another. Some of us checked our parents traits to determine where our own characteristics came from. We learned about dominant and recessive genes and how Punnett squares can predict the percentage of offspring characteristics. Interestingly enough, brown eyed parents can have blue eyed children, and just because a gene is dominant does not mean it is most common. For instance, very few of us had a white forelock, yet is a dominant gene. We think this is because this gene is very rare. We also found that you can be color blind without ever knowing it!
Research, in this case did not seem to be an exact science. Some of
the traits such as the bent and straight thumbs seemed to have many variations
on the theme and often we weren’t quite sure which was which. In some cases,
this may have skewed the results. In addition, although many of us had
fun taking the color blind tests, some of us are now wondering whether
or not you can be color blind in just a few areas. Overall it seems that
scientific research can sometimes lead to more questions than it does answers.
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