9A Observing Human Traits
How much do traits vary in your classroom?
Traits are physical characteristics you inherit Materials
from your parents. In this investigation, you will • PTC paper
take an inventory of your observable traits and
• Pencils
compare these to the observable traits of your
• Calculator
classmates. You will then take inventory of
students and teachers in your school. Finally,
you will determine the frequency of each trait in
your school’s population.
A Observing your own traits
The graphic below shows seven different human traits. Each trait has two different forms.
Study the chart below, then follow the procedures carefully.
1. Working with a partner, observe which form you have for trait A through F. Circle
your form of each trait in Table 1.
NOTE: For finger hair, even if you have only one hair on any of your mid-digits, you
have finger hair.
2. Wash and dry your hands. For trait G, your teacher will give you and your partner a
piece of PTC paper. Taste the paper and circle your form of the trait in Table 1.
Safety tip: Never taste any substance in the laboratory unless directed by your teacher.
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Investigation 9A Observing Human Traits
Table 1: Inventory of traits
Trait Form 1 Form 2
A. Earlobe Free Attached
B. Dimples Absent Present
C. Chin Cleft No cleft
D. Hairline Widow’s peak Straight
E. Finger hair Present Absent
F. Thumb Straight thumb Hitchhiker’s thumb
G. PTC tasting Can taste Cannot taste
B Stop and think
a. For earlobes only, how many students in your class do you think will share the same form
(free or attached) as you? Explain your reasoning.
b. Do you think any of your classmates will have the same form of all traits as you? Make a
prediction about how many of your classmates will have the same form of all seven traits
as you.
C Collecting class data
1. Enter your results in the chart your teacher has placed on the chalkboard or
overhead projector.
2. Record the numbers from the chart into columns 2 and 4 of Table 2 below.
Table 2: Class data for observable traits
Trait Number of Frequency of Number of Frequency of
students with students with students with students with
Form 1 Form 1 Form 2 Form 2
A. Earlobe
B. Dimples
C. Chin
D. Hairline
E. Finger hair
F. Thumb
G. PTC tasting
3. Calculate the frequency of each form of the trait for your class. Use this formula:
(No. of students with form of trait Total number of students in class) 100
4. Make a bar graph of the data in Table 2. Your graph should compare frequencies for
each form of each trait. Put traits on the x-axis and frequency on the y-axis.
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D Thinking about what you observed
a. For each trait, which form was most common, Form 1 or Form 2?
b. Why do you think one form is more common than the other?
c. Do you think your classroom population is typical of a larger population such as your
entire school or community? Explain your answer.
d. Traits are controlled by factors called genes. For each trait listed in Table 1, you get one
gene from your mother and one gene from your father. For each trait, there is a dominant
form and a recessive form. The dominant gene masks the effect of the recessive gene for
the trait. Based on your class data, which form of each trait do you think is the dominant
form? Explain your answer.
e. The dominant and recessive forms for each trait you studied are listed below. Was the
recessive form of any trait more frequent than the dominant form? Make a hypothesis
that explains this result.
Trait Dominant form Recessive form
A. Earlobe Free Attached
B. Dimples No dimples Dimples present
C. Chin Cleft present No cleft
D. Hairline Widow’s peak Straight
E. Finger hair Finger hair present No finger hair
F. Thumb Straight thumb Hitchhiker’s thumb
G. PTC tasting Taster Non-taster
E Exploring on your own
a. Pick any trait (except for PTC tasting) and gather data about the trait from a larger
population. Examples of a larger population include your school, neighborhood, and place
of worship. Follow these steps:
1. Make a hypothesis about what you will observe.
2. Collect data from as many people as you can and record your results in a data table.
3. Graph your data.
4. Present your results to the class for discussion.
b. Do you think people who are related to each other would show more similarity among the
seven traits than unrelated people? Design an experiment to test your hypothesis.
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