October 26, 2026 | Classroom Spotlight

Things are getting a little spooky in Mrs. Driesler’s 7th Grade Accelerated Science classes! 👻

This week, students put their own monstrous twist on genetics while exploring what makes each of us unique.

Mrs. Driesler explained, "In a world of 8.3 billion people, everyone still has DNA that is uniquely their own - even identical twins! This is all thanks to crossing-over in meiosis.

"Today, my class got to explore crossing-over through rock-paper-scissors to simulate the randomness that genes can be passed on in order to determine their genotypes and phenotypes of their monster babies. Some monsters could have one horn or two, and those horns could be curly (twizzlers) or straight (sour punch straws). They could have a big body or small, three eyes or one, and so on. By the end, they got to see how even though we started with the same potential phenotypes, no one's monsters looked exactly like someone else's. Just like how siblings look similar, but not identical, to each other and to their parents.

"Then, of course, we got to eat our creations! Afterwards, we explored further monster possibilities with Punnett Squares."

Who knew genetics could be so monstrous?

— The Lion’s Quill