Caricatured classification

Classification, variation and inheritance topics have been given a fun slant by a number of teachers using familiar TV and movie characters.

Denatone’s “Identifying Mr Men” is an interactive PowerPoint presentation that allows pupils to use a key to find the names of Mr Men, while “The Simpsons’ Family Tree”, provided by Rachel Barker, is a detailed worksheet-based activity exploring the inheritance of characteristics and types of variation through the cartoon family.

Pyrites continues the Mr Men theme with “Cross Breeding Mr Men”, using hypothetical Mr Men and Little Miss children to show how characteristics can be inherited and produce a new combination leading to variation.

Harry Potter characters and the inheritance of the “magic” allele is used to summarise inheritance for key stage 4 pupils. Lucy S’s presentation on genetics encourages pupils to analyse a pattern of inheritance in muggle, wizard and half-blood families.