Does anyone know of a book or website that can dumb down genetics for me?

Question

I'm homeschooled and I'm learning about genetics in science. I'm REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY confused! I'm working with the Punnett square and the whole cross-breeding thing but NONE of it is making much sense. I'm using Switched on school House, but it isn't explaining it very well. Are there any other homeschoolers who have used a different cirriculum? Or did anyone just use books from the library and would have some to recammend? Thanks!

Answer 1

Ok i was a complete moron when it came to DNA, RNA, and genitics. This book helped me so much and it is a real book

Gentics for Dummies, It is by the same company that makes them for computers and sports.

Answer 2

By far the best biology book I've ever found is written by Julian Sutton; it's simply called *Biology* and is a part of the MacMillan Foundations series.

Not only does it have 90 pages or so of genetics but the text is both easy to understand and easy (interesting and entertaining) to read.

MacMIllan Press do have an office in the US so presumably your library could get hold of a copy (assuming you're in North America!) if you wanted to check it out for yourself.

Anyway the book's details are:

Sutton, Julian J. (1998). MacMillan Foundations: Biology. Pub'd by MacMillan Press. ISBN 0-333-65860-4.

The units on genetics are to be found on pages 108-124 and 179-253.

Edit @ JayJay: Being Homeschooled does not (or should not) simply mean 'doing school at home'. That misunderstanding is why my country's government rejected use of the term 'homeschooling' in favour of 'home-education' (although they say they're still not happy calling it that!).

Home schooling is *NOT* about taking what happens in a school environment and transferring it wholesale into your home.

BTW Being self taught at home is known as 'unschooling', 'self-directed learning', 'natural learning', 'child-led learning' or simply 'being an auto-didact'. It is a perfectly valid, acceptable and recognised way for one to be home-educated.

I am an auto-didact. My brothers and sisters are all auto-didacts. No-one teaches us anything. My two eldest siblings are currently studying in top rated universities, my (then) 15 yr old brother took exams meant for 18yr olds and placed in the top 99% in the State.

There is no automatic reason why anyone should need to have a teacher in order to learn something. In fact, for some people (like me for instance, lol!) the presence/involvement of a teacher can be a barrier to effective learning.

Answer 3

Wait!!!  Hold on!  You are being HOMESCHOOLED, you say?  Who is teaching you?  Why do you have to find a website to "dumb down" anything???????  If the person who is homeschooling you cannot teach this to you then they shouldn't be homeschooling you.  The term is "homeschooled" not "self taught at home"!

Edit to Hannah:  I believe the question was that Nam Nam was looking for a site to "dumb down" the subject.... doesn't sound like independent learning to me.

Answer 4

Try Explore Learning:

http://www.explorelearning.com

Search for "genetics".  You'll have 5 minutes per gizmo per day to use w/o a subscription.  They have 3-4 gizmos that may help you.

Answer 5

These sorts of books are written for all ages. Go down the library and start in the picture book section. You'll probably understand those, so move onto the ones aimed at older kids and teens. If you start of simply, then read harder, then harder books you're building on what you already know, bit by bit. That's less of a brainache than trying to swallow it all at once. Explain what you are looking for to a librarian. They will help you find anything you can't find for yourself.

I don't know what time limit you have, but the best way to learn the cross breeding thing is to buy some peas and try to recreate the experiment.

Answer 6

This one is awesome....our library had it

http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Guide-Gene...

Also, look at this website

http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/

Answer 7

Hehe... check out amazon for a book called "Genetics for Dummies"

Although I've never tried it, I have other "..for Dummies" books, and they tend to be of good quality.

As someone who just suffered through a basic genetics course without a real textbook, I WILL also tell you that wikipedia is a GREAT source, and "googling" almost any issue you have will yield pretty good results.

What grade are you in?