THIS IS A TWO-SEMESTER COURSE.

Diversity and variation are widespread in nature. The study of heredity has a long history as people have puzzled over questions of inheritance, such as: Why do children resemble their parents? How can diseases run in families? How can two black Labradors have a litter of black, brown, and tan puppies? How can farmers increase crop yields? No one truly understood how traits were inherited until the mid-1800s, when a monk named Gregor Mendel gathered evidence that began explaining how heredity works using plants.

This course uses a miniature, fast-growing plant, Brassica rapa, to explore the principles of genetics. Students will set up their own mini-terrariums to conduct experiments in order to understand the rules of inheritance. They will identify which plant traits are dominant or recessive, discern between single and double traits, learn about topics such as incomplete dominance and variegation, test backcrosses, harvest DNA, make genetic predictions and collect data to test those predictions, and apply their new knowledge to clinical pedigrees for disease.

Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Fall Semester: September 15 – December 15, 2026
Spring Semester: January 12 – May 11, 2027

Student Expectations: Each week there will be a list of assignments and activities for the next week posted in the online classroom. These will include readings, videos, questions, quizzes, and instructions to students for posting their plant data and photos online for class discussions and data analysis. Assignments will typically be due the following week before class. Students will be required to prepare a lab report of their findings from their project experiment.

Student Support: The instructor is available by email and through video call appointments.

Feedback/Assessment: The instructor will provide feedback on written assignments.

Materials/Supplies: Readings and assignments will be provided on the course website. Before the first class meeting, the instructor will provide a list of supplies for making a mini-terrarium, most of which will be household items. However, students will need to purchase mini-plant kits from Carolina Biological Supply.

Prerequisites: None. This is an introductory course, and students are not expected to have a background in genetics, although they should be able to read and engage with scientific materials, participate in the course activities, and commit to tending the experimental plants.