In the seventh-grade life science classes, students have been studying incredible concepts in genetics.

Our students began their exploration by learning the basics of heredity through the diligent experiments of Gregor Mendel with his pea plants. From there, students developed skills in using Punnett Squares to predict the probability of offspring inheriting traits from their parents. This week, students are partaking in a lab to observe how sex cells are made in the process of Meiosis. 

As you can see in the picture, students are using compound light microscopes to capture images of cells in different phases of Meiosis and describing the DNA formation in each phase. In order for students to grasp a bigger picture, Mr. Haddad invited our music teacher, Mr. Diehl, to share his own personal journey of tracing his DNA through his family lineage.  

Mr. Diehl shared his family history research journey with the seventh-graders.  He demonstrated how DNA testing companies provide personal ethnicity and migratory estimates through the testing of autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y-chromosome DNA. He showed how DNA segments are analyzed, measured, and eventually compared to other matches in public DNA databases. Lastly, Mr. Diehl showed how he is “painting” his chromosomes by identifying which portions of his chromosomes are inherited from specific ancestors throughout history.