Geniverse is a project led by The Concord Consortium that develops free, web-based software for high school biology. It engages students in exploring heredity and genetics by breeding and studying virtual dragons. Interactive models, powered by real genes, enable students to do simulated experiments, generate realistic and meaningful genetic data and win star ratings for efficient experimentation. While following a courageous protagonist on a quest to heal a beloved dragon, students generate their own experimental data as they complete Geniverse challenges. They “publish” their findings using the scientific practice of argumentation, supporting their claims with evidence and reasoning, first in writing, and then in class discussions. MMSA led the teacher professional development component of this project. Our work focused on developing the teacher guides and lesson plans that are part of the online Geniversity support for classroom implementation of Geniverse. Lisa Marchi led MMSA’s work on this project, in conjunction with Jan Mokros.

Learn more about Geniverse at https://learn.concord.org/geniverse. The dragons are fictional, but the genes are real!