While the teaching of population genetics has historically relied upon abstract reasoning and mathematical formulations, numerical simulation represents an alternative learning style that is inherently empirical, and is especially well suited to visual representations of data. This more concrete and visual approach to learning should complement the traditional methodology, and should help reach a much wider spectrum of students. Mendel simulations can provide an excellent platform for teaching a single population genetics lab, or can be used as the basis for building a complete lab curriculum.

Mendel can be used to teach students about the nature of the mutation process, the nature of the selection process, and the role of genetic drift. These processes can be studied as they affect mean mutation counts, mean fitness, mutation profiles, and allele frequencies. At an introductory level, students can study the role of the most fundamental biological variables – including the effects of population size, mutation rate, frequency of beneficials, fertility (population surplus), and number of generations. For teaching at a more advanced level, students can contrast major versus near-neutral mutations, recessive versus dominant mutations, truncation versus probability selection, and low versus high heritabilities. Key concepts such as inbreeding, heterosis, linkage, population sub-structure, and population bottlenecks can be demonstrated in a very visual way. Many aspects of population genetics can be empirically demonstrated using this teaching platform. Mendel is especially effective in simulating complex biological situations realistically.

Mendel's accountant is available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/mendelsaccount and is free of charge. We welcome feedback and suggestions.