Using L***s in the Classroom

I rarely use this copyright-protected small plastic interlocking toy, but there are two lessons that I love! They both have to do with Biology.

The first one is Cell / Tissue / Organ / Organ System / Organism:

Cells make up Tissues

Tissues make up Organs

Organs make up Organ Systems

this year, I had the children build their own Organisms and preset them to the class (complete with "scientific name")

but you can also combine everyone's Organ System to make one amazing Organism

and, what's smaller than a Cell? an Organelle!

If you have ever wondered if the word < organization > is related to the word < organ >, it is!

The second lesson I love to do this way is Punnet Squares. Inspired by this image, I came up with a lesson on dragon eyes. You will need the following bricks (using two colors helps children understand dominant vs. recessive). 3-D printed dragon is optional!

As you can see, when it comes to dragons, yellow eyes are dominant over blue. Here we have a mother dragon with one gene for yellow and one gene for blue, and a father dragon with one gene for yellow and one gene for blue. Both parents have yellow eyes. No one knows the blue gene is there.

When they have children, a Punnet Square shows all the possible combinations of eye color genes that the baby could have. Three of those combinations would result in a yellow-eyed baby dragon.

But there's a 25% chance that those two recessive blue genes will come together, and you'll have an adorable blue-eyed little one!

We did the Punnet Square lesson as part of the Reproductive System after reading Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe.

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