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Gordon
Thank you for reminding me of this. I agree that it is a fascinating exhibit.
Does anyone have some user friendly software to share?
Thanks!
Glen Moore
Science Centre and Planetarium
Wollongong, Australia
[log in to unmask]
http://science.uow.edu.au
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon McDonough" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "CHILDMUS - A Forum for Childrens Museum Professionals" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:54 AM
Subject: Re: [CHILDMUS] Exhibit on Diversity--Need Input
> >What kinds of hands-on activities did you develop in relation to the
> >exhibit or program?
>
> Liz, among our many push-button (yawn) exhibits we have a pretty cool
> computer set up to poll visitor's genetic traits and compare them. A
> few months ago I was asked about it, and I wrote the following
> description of its contents. We have had this computer for a long
> time, and I don't know who wrote the program, but I suspect it would
> be easier to start all over than to try to use the version we are
> running. (Get a high school computer teacher to assign it to a Java
> programming class.*)
>
> "
> ..snips... I just sat at that exhibit and learned, among other
> things, that of the 50,995 other persons who have used it, only 232
> of them share the same ten traits that I reported. It makes me feel
> special. (OTOH, statistically, if we split 50,995 in half ten times,
> we end up in a group of fifty, so I am not that special!)
>
> The ten items in the exhibit are:
>
> Ring finger longer than index finger? Yes is dominant among men, no
> among women.
>
> Hair on the backs of middles of fingers is dominant.
>
> Attached ear lobes is recessive.
>
> Hitchhiker's thumb bends far back and is recessive
>
> Ability to curl our tongue is dominant.
>
> There is a tube that claims to contain a chemical fraction present in
> male sweat. (Like 40% of us, I couldn't smell it.) Men tend to find
> it offensive, women less so. Most people can smell it.
>
> If your pinky finger curves inward toward your ring finger, you have
> the dominant gene.
>
> If your eyes are anything besides blue, you have a dominant characteristic.
>
> If your hair forms a widow's peak, that is dominant.
>
> If you have real dimples (not part of smile wrinkles, like me) that
> is dominant too.
>
> I poked around very briefly on the Internet and found nothing useful
> for a second grader, but these sites may contain information useful
> for you if you are helping a second grader. Several of them have
> activities, worksheets, or tables that might be adaptable for your
> son's purposes.
>
> http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/teachers/units/traits_tree.pdf
>
> http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/internet_lab/olc.php?olcChapter=449
>
> http://chroma.gs.washington.edu/outreach/genetics/download/toothpickfish.pdf
>
> http://biosci.usc.edu/courses/2001-spring/documents/bisc102-humantraitslab.pdf
>
> "
>
> * Our program, as I recall, asks the ten questions and after each
> question gives some information about that trait (or possibly it does
> this at the end.) It keeps track of the ten answers, which are all
> yes/ no. It stores the results and keeps a running tally of all
> visitors' responses and reports that at the end. Then I think it
> gives the visitor the option of going back and seeing what the
> results would look like if they changed one or more of their answers.
> A person with a background in programming will know none of this is
> rocket science. One could alternatively use demographic questions to
> underline how wealthy and privileged we, your visitors, are compared
> to most of the world. Similar the the world as a village of 100
> people idea:
>
> http://ssqq.com/archive/vinlin04.htm
>
> I am sorry I can't find the original source.
> --
> Gordon McDonough, Science Educator
> Bradbury Science Museum, MS C330
> Community Programs Office
> Los Alamos National Laboratory
> Los Alamos, NM. USA 87545
>
> (505) 606-0822
>
> "What one fool can understand, another can."
> Sylvanus P. Thompson
>
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