DANIELLE DZURIK
CPO Science
Crazy Traits
What better way to learn genetics than with Crazy Traits?! This fun equipment kit was designed to assist teaching genetics and evolution through hands on games of chance.
Crazy Traits in ACTION!
Emily Glastetter
@GlastetterSci
Emily Glastetter
@GlastetterSci
Emily Glastetter
@GlastetterSci
merrillvilleeducationfoundation.org
merrillvilleeducationfoundation.org
merrillvilleeducationfoundation.org
merrillvilleeducationfoundation.org
merrillvilleeducationfoundation.org
Emily Glastetter
@GlastetterSci
Haley Kerns
wildcatvoice.org
Haley Kerns
wildcatvoice.org
Haley Kerns
wildcatvoice.org
About the Design
Crazy Traits
I designed the wooden body to be rotatable to represent a male or female form, which is decided by a coin flip when playing the Survivor game.
I then designed the character traits, which support teaching of genotypes and phenotypes. Some trait examples include:
- Foot: Webbed (dominant TT or Tt) or Talons (recessive tt)
- Beak: Trumpet (dominant TT or Tt) or Crusher (recessive tt)
- Eyebrows: Unibrow (dominant TT or Tt) or Separate (recessive tt)
- Hands: Paws (dominant TT or Tt) or Claws (tt)
- Ears: Elephant (dominant TT or Tt) or Mouse (tt)
Most of the character traits, such as the claws or paws, are molded plastic. They are designed to either be inserted into the wooden body, or attach to the body via embedded magnets. These traits are also decided by coin flips, but with the additional complexity of adding dominant (TT, Tt) and recessive (tt) forms.
The neoprene skins allow for teaching incomplete dominance, when the red skin (TT) and blue skin (tt) combine to yield a purple skin (Tt) child.
Survivor
After completing the design of the Crazy Trait body kit, I worked on designing the accompanying Survivor game. The game of Survivor utilized Environment cards. The cards drawn either promoted or demoted the advancement of one's creature based on the suitability of their traits.