App: Gregor Mendel
Developer: Ventura Educational Systems
Genres: Education, Reference

With this app students learn about the life and contributions to botany and the study of genetics made by Gregor Mendel. It discusses Mendel's studies of dominant and recessive traits in pea plants.

Gregor Mendel was a monk. At the monastery where he lived there was a large garden and this gave Mendel an opportunity to collect a huge amount of data about plants. Through meticulous data collection Mendel was able to develop a theory to explain how genetic traits are passed from one generation to the next. Mendel focused his research on seven traits: the color of the seeds (green or yellow), the height of the plant (tall or dwarf), the shape of the pea (smooth or wrinkled), the color of the flower (purple or white), the shape of the pod (inflated or constricted), the color of the pod (yellow or green), and the position of the flowers (axial or terminal).

With this app students learn about the significant contributions that Mendel's experiments revealed. His work involved growing and cross-breeding thousands of specimens. He counted and classified the plants according to the seven traits. Mendel's research showed that a dominant trait appears in the offspring if it is contributed from a parent through a dominant allele. Traits are referred to as phenotypes. Mendel conducted simple experiments in hybridization with pea plants. He challenged the common idea at the time that reproduction resulted in a blending of traits.

Students will enjoy using this graphically illustrated, interactive learning tool. The timeline feature presents key events in the history of genetics and tapping on timeline points brings up descriptions of each historical event and tells about its significance. A quiz function helps students demonstrate their comprehension of the reading material. Key mathematical and scientific concepts are shown in colorful illustrations. We hope this app will inspire students to study science. The app shows that Gregor Mendel certainly deserves an important place in the history of botany, genetics and science in general.

Release notes:
This version provides an update to recommended settings.