Course Description
A critical thinking and problem solving course designed around principles of genetics. This computer-simulated laboratory course will appeal to students with a background in basic mathematics and genetics by requiring logical thinking, hypothesis testing, and written communication of results.
Athena Title
Genetics Problem Solving Lab
Prerequisite
GENE 3200-3200D or GENE 3200H
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course introduces students who have a background in genetics to advanced genetic principles, including Non-Mendelian inheritance. Mendelian genetics is a cornerstone of genetics, but there are many principles that he did not discover that will be explored in this course. This is a computer-simulated course that promotes peer interactions to complete outlined genetics problems. An online laboratory that requires students to submit a preliminary “plan of attack” prior to saving any experiments in the module accompanies each scenario. Upon approval of a successful strategy, students are permitted to execute experiments to test their hypotheses. Experimental results can be saved in the laboratory module, and final reports are submitted for evaluation. As part of these reports, students will be required to relate the conclusions of each laboratory scenario to examples from the literature. Bonus credit is given for students who are able to relate their results to current events in the news. In addition to laboratory reports, quizzes will be held for each section. An important aspect of this course is the peer-to-peer communication that will occur and, as a result, attendance will be recorded. Although this course is designed around advanced genetics, at its core it is a course in critical thinking and problem solving. This will be a challenging course.
Topical Outline
Non-Mendelian genetics Genetic linkage Epistasis Maternal inheritance Mitochondrial inheritance Sex linkage Codominance Synthetic lethality Segregation distortion Identifying different types of mutations Genetic crosses Mapping mutations Identifying double mutants Temperature sensitive mutations Mating types Genetic pathway analysis