Activity 1: Rock, Paper, Scissors

1. Describe the game Rock, Paper, Scissors using the words dominant and recessive. Explain that rock dominates scissors, scissors dominate paper, and paper dominates rock. 
2. Divide students into pairs, and provide each pair with a copy of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Recording Chart.
3. Instruct the students to play Rock, Paper Scissors ten times and record the outcome of each round on the chart. 
4. Discuss the outcomes that students observed. Are there ways of making certain one person will always dominate (win)?
5. Discuss dominant and recessive in terms of genes and heredity.
6. Provide each pair of students with a copy of the Plant Features activity sheet to color and cut out. When finished, ask students to place the features into the prepared gene pool containers (boxes, envelopes, etc.) labeled “Leaves,” “Fruit,” “Flowers,” “Roots,” and “Stems.” 
7. Place the five gene pool containers in different locations throughout the room.
8. Hand out a copy of the What Does It Look Like? activity sheet to each pair of students. 
9. Next, have each individual student randomly select one feature from each of the gene pool containers. 
10. Returning to their pairs, have the students fill in the activity sheet with the features chosen. The partners then need to determine what their plant looks like. For example, if one partner chooses a dominant round fruit and the other partner chooses a recessive oval fruit, the plant will have round fruit. Finally, ask students to draw their plants, showing the appropriate features. 
11. Have the students display their plants. Compare the number of dominant traits expressed to the number of recessive traits expressed. Discuss the wide variety of plants produced from the same gene pool and how this activity shows that it is highly unlikely for two brothers or sisters to have exactly the same genetic makeup.
12. Discuss how knowledge of dominant and recessive traits is important to agriculture. Ask students to think of all the different types of apples (or lettuce, onions, potatoes, etc.) they can buy at the grocery store. Each of these different types was developed by plant breeders who cross different parent plants to get the characteristics they want. 

Alternative Teaching Strategies for Activity 1:

1. Rather than working in pairs, have the class create one plant on a flannel board by randomly selecting from the gene pool.
2. When discussing traits that are dominant, co-dominant, and recessive, use colored markers and a whiteboard to illustrate. Two colors can be blended for co-dominance and a recessive color can be erased.

Activity 2: Mixing Inherited Traits

1. Place the following eight piles of mixed glitter on small paper plates and spread the plates out on a table, leaving at least a foot between plates.
   • Red, blue, and green
   • Red, silver, and green
   • Red, blue, and magenta
   • Red, silver, and magenta
   • Gold, blue, and green
   • Gold, silver, and green
   • Gold, blue, and magenta
   • Gold, silver, and magenta
2. Pass out one Plant Parent 1 Card to each student. Explain that the card represents one parent plant and that each color on the card represents one trait that the parent will pass on to its offspring.
3. Pass out one chenille stem piece to each student. Tell students that they are going to become pollinators. The chenille stems represent the hairy legs of a bee and the glitter piles represent the flowers of second parent plant.
4. Show students how to bend the chenille stems into “bee legs” (a right angle bend near one end).
5. Tell students they will visit one of the eight flowers (glitter piles) that will be the second parent (Parent 2) to the offspring they are creating. 
6. Ask each student to visit and place their “bee leg” into one pile of glitter.
7. Have students return to their desks and remove the glitter from the “legs” onto a sheet of paper. Have them identify which colors are present for Parent 2 and compare them to the colors from the Plant Parent 1 Card.
8. Explain that sometimes a trait that an offspring receives from a parent is not visible, even though the offspring carries the information for that trait.
9. Show students the Glitter Plant Trait Key, which lists the trait that the offspring will exhibit for each color (trait) received from Parent 1 and Parent 2.
10. Hand out and ask students to complete the Glittering Offspring activity sheet. They should use the glitter code listed at the top of the Glitter Plant Trait Key: red/gold colors determine the color of the petals; blue/silver colors determine the length of the stem; and green/magenta determine the color of the leaf. 
    • Example: If you had red, silver, and green listed from your Plant Parent 1 Card, and you obtained the colors gold, silver, and magenta from your glitter pile (Parent 2), then your plant would have:
      •  Red and Gold = Red Petal
      • Silver and Silver = Short Stem
      • Green and Magenta = Dark Green Leaves
11. Review with students which colors from the Glitter Plant Trait Key represent dominant traits and which represent recessive traits. Discuss the similarities and differences among the offspring and the frequencies of each visible trait. Discuss the challenges that recessive traits might pose to plant breeders.