Mendel's Experiments on Plants - Cover Sheet

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Author - Tom Huber - Summer 1998

Case Purpose Mendel’s paper Experiments on Plant Hybrids is a classic paper in the biological primary literature and the first paper in modern genetics. With a modest effort, students can have access to a first-rate scientific mind at work. The paper lends itself well to a case that lasts several days, and can be used to explore an unusual number of principles as discussed by Ziman (ISS) especially in Chapters 2 & 3. Some preparation for the paper is necessary, as it requires a very careful reading that may need some initial direction from the professor for success. Also, it helps to have students read the text in MendelWeb, as it is annotated completely (Blumberg, Roger B. (ed.) MendelWeb. (http://www.netspace.org/MendelWeb/).

Relation to Texts This case reinforces the ideas in Chapters 2 and 3 of Ziman (ISS), which discuss the nature of research and the issue of validity. There is ample opportunity to talk about description (Ziman, ISS, 2.2), patterns of facts (Ziman, ISS, 2.4), experiment (Ziman, ISS, 2.8), scientific laws (Ziman, ISS, 2.9), explanation (Ziman, ISS, 2.10), and theory (Ziman, ISS, 2.13), as well as empiricism (Ziman, ISS, 3.2), the problem of induction (Ziman, ISS, 3.4), prediction (Ziman, ISS, 3.6) and the hypothetico-deductve method (Ziman, ISS, 3.7). Perhaps more importantly, the issue of why Mendel changed the nature of research in this discipline can be discussed, although this may not fit as nicely as possible in Ziman’s (ISS) Chapter 7 on Change. Mendel’s work represents an impressive degree of interdisciplinary thinking (he was trained as a physicist; he was "looking" for laws in a typical 19th century physicist’s mode), a rigorous use of empiricism (he observed, categorized, and counted an impressive number of offspring), a novel use of probability theory (to predict outcomes of various crosses), and an understanding of elementary descriptive statistics (he understood the importance of a mean and a large sample size). Also, a good example for introducing a statistical test of significance is available in this paper (although Mendel does not use it as such). Chi-square can be used to analyze results that are provided both for individual plants, as well as for the entire population of plants. Thus, the importance of sample size can be emphasized. Finally, since this paper represents primary literature that wasn’t immediately "accredited" (Ziman, ISS, 4.6), it could also be used during Chapter 4 (Communication) in Ziman (ISS).

Description of Case Materials Mendel’s paper is conveniently copied from Peters, James A. (ed.). 1959. Classic Papers in Genetics. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. I have this book in my office. Students should probably be encouraged to photocopy this so that they have a hard copy during discussions. However, because of the extremely useful annotations, students should probably read the paper in MendelWeb (http://www.netspace.org/MendelWeb/). As background material, any modern introductory biology text will discuss Mendelian Genetics, as does Trefil and Hazen in Chapter 23 in Trefil, J. and R. M. Hazen. 1998. The Sciences; An Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons. New York, New York. ISBN 0-471-16117-9. In addition, there are numerous other references mentioned below.

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