Final Report From Millburn Middle School

Greetings from the 8th grade science and computer classes at Millburn Middle School, in Millburn, New Jersey. We found out that dominant traits are not necessarily the most common seen. For instance, although the white forelock is dominant, it appeared in only about 20 percent of the total population surveyed (data downloaded May 9th). Dimples and mid-digit hair were also less common than their dominant counterparts. The frequency range of dominant traits was very broad at 75% with a low of about 20% to a high of 95.5 %. We found out that some kids might even get to eighth grade without knowing they were color blind, and that color blindness does not mean you can’t see color at all. It just means there are some colors that you can’t tell apart. We also found out that our class data was very different from the downloaded data, so it definitely helps to have a bigger sample of people to survey. If we were to do this project again, we would like more pictures of the traits, especially more of the white forelock. Some traits seemed harder to distinguish than others, such as bent and straight pinkies. We thought this project was very fun and interesting.