On your mark, get set, GO!

 Speed dating was the word of the day for students creating monsters in Biology class.

The activity was a part of the genetics unit; students had to take the genotypes and phenotypes from their monster and speed date with other student monsters to figure out potential genes of the monster offspring.

“We spent a while learning about genetics and the actual definitions of what it is,” freshman Logan Walker said. “But with this activity, we actually got to see the different possibilities.”

Each student had a different monster and had to find three monsters to “date.” Questions concerned learning each other’s traits, like “Does your monster have one eye or 2?” or “Does your monster have fur or no fur?”

“It was kind of weird, at first, asking the person about their monsters, but I soon got the hang of it,” sophomore Bailey Beshears said. “At the end, I had all of these cute, unusual monsters.”

Once they had the traits from their monster date, they completed Punnett squares and moved on to the next date. Students practiced Punnett squares and genotypes/phenotypes. Punnett squares show probabilities of different genetics being combined.

“It was so exciting to watch my students trying to fake “date” with their monsters because they learned that they had to actually talk to someone on a date,” Megan McMullen said. “I think they really enjoyed this activity and learned a lot.”