Activity 3

Procedures: Students are divided into interview teams. Each team is assigned to interview a farmer, a plant breeder or nurseryman, and a breeder of purebred racehorses, or cats, or dogs, or whatever species applies to your immediate environment.  

Students interview the person to find out:

• which bodily features and functions are considered favorable and are being selected for
• how the animals or plants are selected (is the emphasis on the selecting males, females, or both for the desired features) and why.
• for plant breeders, students should learn the mechanics of how pollen is collected and transferred. For asexual propagation of plants (as in use of cuttings, students should explain how that might change the gene frequency of desirable traits -- which only would occur if the cuttings grow to produce fertile seeds). In the case of hybrid plants, students should explain why gene frequency of desired traits will not increase (because most plant hybrids are sterile). 

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