Harry Potter Can Teach Children Genetics
English teachers and librarians everywhere hail JK Rowling for stimulating interest in reading by penning Harry Potter
Like almost every blogger, I’ve written about Harry Potter before (in my personal blog and at the Children’s Books, Toys and Things Blog), but not here at the Genetics and Public Health Blog. I’m obviously not creative enough or else I’d have a letter in one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, Nature.
Jeffrey M. Craig, Renee Dow, and MaryAnne Aitken, researchers at the Royal Childrens Hospital in Australia, wrote about the study of family pedigrees in the Harry Potter book series as a way of teaching children about the basics of genetics:
- Medelian inheritance of wizarding ability – muggle as a dominant trait and wizarding ability as a recessive trait requiring two copies of the wizard allele.
- Incomplete penetrance – wizards with poor skills despite having two copies of the wizard allele indicating only partial expression of the wizard gene.
- Mutations
- Issues of questionable paternity (wonder if wizards need DNA paternity tests too…)
My toddler isn’t quite ready for Harry Potter yet but he’s caught on to the Star Wars craze. I can’t think of a way off the top of my head to teach genetics concepts using podracers and X-wing starfighters, but I think he might already have a talent for plant genetics and breeding.
From my son’s toy box.
Read more: Forbes.com, August 15, 2005
Thanks for the heads-up from reader alsion.
ETA: Harry Potter – The magic of genetics Lesson Plan is available online.
As a child during the 1980s, my interest in genetics spawned from dinosaur picture books. That naturally led into evolution and genetic diversity, so that when we got to the Gregor Mendel stuff at school, I was primed and ready to learn.
Hi Brad! I think I first got interested in medical science when I read about America’s first woman MD, Elizabeth Blackwell. I’m not sure exactly how I become interested in genetics but that started in grade school too!
If Harry Potter had been around then, maybe I would have become a magician instead. HA!