DNA extraction in the life science classroom usually involves isolating DNA from onions, strawberries, wheat germ, sweetbreads, etc. That tends to be kind of boring. More interesting to teachers and students is isolating DNA in humans. There are kits out there (like from BioRad) that you can buy for human DNA extraction, […]
Archive for the 'Lessons' Category
Video Demo: Whiteboard Protein Synthesis
Published by May 22nd, 2008 in Demos, Video and Lessons. 0 CommentsProtein synthesis is the process that the cell goes through to make a protein from the information stored in the DNA. The video below shows a demonstration that you can do in your classroom to show how protein synthesis works. This demonstration emphasizes the following points:
1. DNA […]
Lesson: Who is Your Closest Relative?
Published by May 1st, 2008 in Lessons and Resources. 0 CommentsThis is an activity where students examine the evolutionary relationships between 5 primates: human, chimpanzee, orangutan, gorilla, and gibbon. To determine the relationships students examine the DNA sequence of a single gene found in all 5 species. The DNA strips aren’t the real sequences, but they are based on real DNA match percentages. […]
Lesson: Let’s Grub on Some Grass Beetles
Published by April 14th, 2008 in Demos, Video and Lessons. 0 CommentsLet’s Grub on Some Grass Beetles is a natural selection simulation. Natural selection is the “process by which favorable heritable traits become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable heritable traits become less common.” In this activity, part 1 involves variations in silver beak loon beak types. […]
I’m using a wonderful tool called Voicethread to demonstrate how to extract DNA from raw wheat germ. Click play on how to do the demo and to see how Voicethread can be used. Download the handout for more details.
Lesson: Google Maps/Earth Solar System Scale Model
Published by April 11th, 2007 in Demos, Video and Lessons. 0 CommentsGoogle Maps has recently developed “My Maps” where Google Maps can be annotated with pictures, lines, shapes, and points. I incorporated this new tool with one of my all time favorite lessons: The Solar System Scale Model. This model shows the Sun and the nine planets (yes I still include Pluto for comparison […]
The egg drop is a staple of science classes. I love the egg drop. It is one of the few learning activities where all students can construct an apparatus that doesn’t require a parent to take over the student’s work, doesn’t require expensive or hard to get materials, and hey you might get […]
This is a lesson that I got from another teacher, who I think got it from Science Gems. My eighth graders have to learn what chemical reactions are and how to recognize them. Our textbook describes 5 types of evidence that a chemical occurred. They are color change, temperature change, gas production, precipitation and change […]
UC Berkeley Physics Lectures on Google Video
Published by September 27th, 2006 in Demos, Video, Lessons and Resources. 0 CommentsThe lectures for Physics 10: Physics for Future Presidents are available at Google Video for free. Professor Richard A. Muller teaches this class for non science majors, by using many interesting hands on demonstrations. This is a wonderful resource for high school and middle school teachers, who may want show or do some […]
An important component in learning matter, is being able to measure how much space matter takes up–in other words volume. Measuring the volume of liquids requires the use of a graduated cylinder. Students need practice to use the graduated cylinder effectively. My colleague, Cindy Giove, shared the lab activity, Rainbow Volume with […]
