G7_Ancestry_grade level _04

By looking at this evidence, scientists can find commonalities in DNA between large groups of people or populations. Based on the number of common features in the DNA, a prediction can be made regarding the geographic region your ancestors were originally from.


Mom’s expression, as she opened your gift, said it all. You accomplished the impossible mission, a wonderful gift for Mom that was a fantastic surprise. She was so eager to find out about her ancestry that she sent the cheek swab in the next day. It felt like forever, but three weeks later you got back the results from the lab. It turns out grandpa’s family is partly Irish. That must be where you get the freckles from. Their ability to analyze the genes also led to Mom finding extended family we never knew existed.

While the science is not yet exact, perhaps more of an estimate, it was at least able to provide Mom with some information about her father’s ancestry.