Predicting phenotypic outcomes from genetic crosses is often very difficult for biology students, especially those with learning disabilities. With our mathematical concept, struggling students in inclusive biology classrooms are now better equipped to solve genetic problems and predict phenotypes, because of improved understanding of dominance and recessiveness. Furthermore, this new concept has gained popularity among our dyslexic biology students who usually have difficulty in conceptualizing alleles and genes with alphabetical letters. In addition to giving these students the option of using numerical representations, this method minimizes confusion that is often caused by alphabetical representations.

Keywords:
Phenotypic outcomes, mathematical concept, alleles, dominance, recessiveness, biology students
© 2012 by National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions Web site at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp.
2012
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