Mendelian genetics is often taught through student lab work with live Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). This approach can be limited by institutional resources and time requirements imposed by the Drosophila life cycle. FlyBuilder overcomes these practical limitations by using a reductionist paper doll Drosophila toolkit. Here, we offer FlyBuilder as a free multimodal genetics curriculum that can be integrated into existing curricula. FlyBuilder uses Drosophila balancer chromosomes and visible “marker” mutations to illustrate and apply examples of recessive lethality, genotype-phenotype pairing, phenotypic dominance, and Drosophila transgenesis. We have used FlyBuilder in introductory, intermediate and advanced topic biology and neuroscience courses at two universities where it generated positive student feedback and understanding.
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