During my years as a high school biology teacher, genetics was my favorite unit to teach. I liked the “mathiness” of the concepts and the way Punnett squares and family pedigrees could be used to trace genetic information in predictable ways leading to expected outcomes. I used classic single-gene traits like sickle cell anemia to illustrate patterns of inheritance and often oversimplified multigenic traits such as eye color or tongue rolling to reinforce concepts.

My understanding of the impacts of these classroom decisions has changed over time. It is no wonder that the phrase “the gene for … ” is commonly used to explain everything from cancer incidence to murderous behavior without considering the environmental context in which genes are rooted. The narrow Mendelian examples we use in our genetic storylines do not prepare students for the multifactorial health conditions – those caused by multiple genes and influenced by environmental...

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