London IDEAS Education Dr Gail Davies Populate Your Alien Planet Breed the Next Generation Migration to New Places Who Will Survive? The Geneticons: An Alien Population Game

Alien Population: In the Beginning Many years ago, and many light years away, there was a lesser known planet in our Solar system called Geneticus. This planet was inhabited by small Alien creatures known as the Geneticons. They suffered a terrible fate, a disaster equivalent to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. The Geneticons were extinct. But then an Alien Geneticist, discovered the DNA that made up the original Geneticons and using spectacular Alien technology decided to re-create the Geneticons. But he is very busy and this is very labour intensive so he has asked for some help. He needs you to create the first population, the first generation of Geneticons.

Alien Population: Creation Rules 5 main characteristics make up a Geneticon –Body Shape –Eyes –Nose –Feet or something similar to allow movement –Antennae Whether they are Male or female is determined by the antennae Within each of these there are 6 possibilities 6 different genes determining a characteristic –These are conveniently numbered 1 – 6 for ease of creation by the role of a die

Geneticon Creation Start with Body type –Roll the die, see which body gene you have. Draw your Geneticon’s body. How will your Geneticon Move? –Roll the die, see which movement gene you have. How fine a looking specimen do you have? –Roll the die a couple of more times to add eyes and a nose. The final touch is an antenna. –Remember that this also tells you whether you have a boy or a girl. If you wish you can name your Geneticon..

Characteristics Key - Body 1- Round 2 - Triangular 3 - Blob 4 - Square 5 - Heart 6 - Spiked

Characteristics Key - Movement 1- Wings 2 - Spring 3 - Wheels 4 - Flippers 5 - Feet 6 - Ski

Characteristics Key - Eyes 1- Round single 2 - Round double 3 - Round triple 4 - Two on stalks 5 - Round single with lashes 6 - Round double with lashes

Characteristics Key - Nose 1- Red blob 2 - Blue blob 3 - Green blob 4 - Orange blob 5 - Yellow blob 6 – Purple blob

Characteristics Key - Antennae 1- Red triangle (girl) 2 - Red coil (girl) 3 - Red cross (girl) 4 - Green triangle (boy) 5 - Green coil (boy) 6 - Green cross (boy)

Picture Gallery

Alien Population: Founder Generation You have now created your starting population, your founder generation. They have all grown up and are now ready to find their ideal partner to settle down and have their own little Geneticons. The Alien dating agency is not that sophisticated. Pool your Geneticon females and pool your Geneticon males. Now select a random card from each pool. These are your happy couple.

Making Geneticon Babies Take your Geneticon pair. –What do you think their baby will look like? –Who’s eyes will it have? Who’s body shape? –This will be decided by the genes for those characteristics. –Will it get its Mum’s or Dad’s gene? For every characteristic you will flip a coin –Heads – It will inherit Mum’s gene –Tails – It will inherit Dad’s gene The Geneticons have large families. –Each couple have a minimum of 6 babies

MumDad Babies Family

Baby Competition The local Mayor of Genesville has decided to hold a baby competition. He can’t decide whether to make it the Cutest or Ugliest. So he’s holding both You may like to have regional heats within your groups Each group can enter one baby into each competition –Make sure that your babies get entered for the right category! You never know your cute one might win the Ugly baby competition! Time to vote and announce a winner Congratulations or should it be commiserations?

Congratulations You Have Created a Fine Set of Geneticon Families

Alien Population: Migration The Geneticons have been so successful at breeding that they are becoming overcrowded and the new generation are restless. A few intrepid explorers venture out and chart the whole of the planet. The stories of these beautiful far off places are tempting. It is time to move from the overcrowded Metropolis of Genesville.

The Green Red marshlands where the planet’s natural springs produce clear fresh water. The Blue Yellow mountains where the sun shines and there is not a cloud in the blue sky. The Purple Black lowlands where the rocks are hard and minerals are abundant. Chartered Regions of Geneticus

Migration- Where to? The Geneticons are very family orientated and will only migrate as a family unit of brothers and sisters. Say goodbye to the parents who remain in Genesville. For each family migrating you must roll the colours die. –Blue or Yellow means migration to the Mountains –Green or Red means migration to the Marshlands –Purple or Black means migration to the Lowlands

To Determine Your Geneticons’ Fate Look at your Geneticon Families and read carefully which characteristics are suited to the environment and which ones are not. Say goodbye to those who die and remove them from the game All others are survivors. Give a tick for each advantageous or ideal characteristic that your Geneticon survivors have.

Migration Fate Card: Blue Yellow Mountains Body shape - The ideal body shape is round and compact Give them a tick. There is just one body shape that is unable to survive, Spiked. The surface area is too great and these poor Geneticons lose all their body heat and die in the night. Remove all family members with a spiked body. Movement – The ideal way to travel in the mountains is by flying, skiing or using feet to climb. Give them all a tick. Wheels may prove difficult and half the Geneticons with wheels suffer a fatal accident. If they land on their head they die, if they land on their bottom they survive. Flip a coin to see if your Geneticons with wheels survive. If it lands on heads, it is curtains! You may think it is unfortunate to have wheels, but not as unfortunate as flippers. These poor creatures cannot climb at all, they are destined to die at the foot of the steep slopes. Remove all family members with flippers.

Migration Fate Card: Blue Yellow Mountains - continued Eyes - To see over the craggy terrain, eyes on stalks are ideal. Give them a tick. However most eyes are suitable with one exception. So that the Geneticons’ can judge distance they need at least two eyes. Those poor individuals with just one eye keep falling off the Mountain and die. Remove all family members with just one eye. Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in with the scenery, the blue and yellow noses are best. Give them both a tick. All the other noses are fine. Antennae - There are no problems with any of the antennae on the mountainside

Migration Fate Card: Green Red Marshlands Body shape – There is no ideal body shape here and most body shapes survive well. However, the Geneticons are a tasty delicacy for the Marshland water snakes and they particularly like the plump juicy ones. The round bodies are liked best and they are more likely to be eaten than any of the others. Flip a coin, if it is heads then they have just entered the snakes mouth. Remove them from the game. If it is tails, they have had a lucky escape. Movement – The ideal way to travel in the wet marshlands is by flying, water skiing or swimming with flippers. Give them all a tick. While it is not ideal it is possible to swim with feet, but it is certainly not possible to swim with springs or wheels. These poor creatures cannot swim at all, they just flounder and drown. Remove all family members with wheels or springs.

Migration Fate Card: Green Red Marshlands Eyes – All eyes are acceptable in the Marshlands, but triple eyes may be advantageous, allowing the Geneticon to keep a lookout for those nasty water snakes. Give them a tick. Those individuals with just one eye are less likely to see the water snake creeping up and are going to be in more danger of being eaten. For all one-eyed Geneticons flip a coin. If it is heads they have just been swallowed by the snake. Remove these individuals from the game. If it is tails they have just escaped. Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in with the scenery, the green and red noses are best. Give them both a tick. All the other noses are fine. Antennae - There are no problems with any of the antennae in the marshlands - continued

Migration Fate Card: Purple Black Lowlands Body shape – There is no ideal body shape for this environment. Most body shapes survive well. But the heart shaped Geneticons find this environment tough and pine for their home city of Genesville. Half of these die of a broken heart. Flip a coin, if it is heads then they are ruled by their head and survive. If it is tails they are ruled by their heart and die. Remove these individuals from the game. Movement – The ideal way to travel in the hard lowlands is by wheels and springs. Give them both a tick. It may be fine to fly but the problem is landing. Many of these creatures manage to land badly on the hard stone or even worse down a mineshaft. Flip a coin, if it is heads, they have landed badly and die. Remove these individuals from the game. If it is tails they have just bruised their bottom, a narrow escape. Skis are useless on this terrain. These Geneticons are unable to move and die where they stand. Remove all family members with skis.

Migration Fate Card: Purple Black Lowlands Eyes – All eyes are acceptable in the lowlands. But because of the dust from the mining it is advantageous to have lashes to keep the grit and dirt out. Give them a tick. Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in with the scenery, the purple noses are best. Give them a tick. All the other noses are fine. - continued

Migration Fate Card: Purple Black Lowlands Antennae – Most antennae are fine in the lowlands. But, there is one problem with the cross shaped antennae. This region has a lot of birds but very few trees. This means that the birds will perch and nest almost anywhere. Unfortunately, the cross shaped antennae look like an ideal resting place to a bird. It is not just the inconvenience of walking around with a bird on your head there are serious health problems for these Geneticons. The birds can transmit a nasty disease called antennae rot, and if they do these Geneticons become infertile, unable to breed. Flip a coin for every Geneticon that has a cross shaped antennae. If it is heads then they have caught antennae rot and can have no children - still continued

Migration Survival Were your Geneticons successful in their migration? How many did you lose because they were not suited to their surroundings? –Make sure that these have been removed from the game Did you have many with ideal or advantageous characteristics? –Did you have many with one tick? –Did you have any with more than two ticks? You can stop at this stage and see who has the most survivors. Give five points for a survivor. Give two points for every ideal characteristic. Who has the most points? They are the winner of this level

Migration – The Next Generation The Geneticon Survivors have got used to their new home and now want to settle down, find a partner and have a family. Pool all of the surviving Geneticons for each region. Once you have paired your Geneticons using the rules on the next slide, divide the pairs between players to create the next generation.

Migration – The Next Generation Breeding Rules The most desirable Geneticons are those that have ideal or advantageous characteristics for their environment. The ones with the most ticks These naturally stick together. –Make piles of males and females with the same point value. –Make pairs starting with the highest point values first. –Any odd males or females get the first pick of the next point value down. –Keep making pairs moving to the next value down and so on until you have paired all the males and females. –Any remaining males or females that are not paired cannot have babies, discard these.

Migration – The Next Generation Making Alien Babies You are now ready to create your next generation of Geneticons. –Remember, for every feature you flip a coin Heads – It will inherit Mum’s gene Tails – It will inherit Dad’s gene What characteristics do this next generation of Geneticons have? –What characteristics have been lost in your region? – Have any characteristics become more common than before?

Congratulations You Have Created a Fine Set of Geneticon Families Suited to Their New Environment