It is the GCSE Biology exam for my AQA students tomorrow. And one of the key topics in the B2 part of the syllabus is on Genetics and the work of Gregor Mendel. Mendel was an Austrian monk and Biologist in the 19th century. Mendel was very systematic and methodical in his experiments with peas. He was able to work out that traits can be inherited by future generations. And that there are dominant and recessive characteristics. We know these as alleles now.

This short 3 minute video is a great introduction into Punnett squares and the basics of genetic inheritance. Mendel was a pioneer of his time as we didn’t know about DNA or Chromosomes in the 19th century. The animations of the peas in this video are also very engaging and funny.