Activities

High School Activities
      Kiwi DNA Extraction
      Agarose Gel Electrophoresis with Dyes
      DNA Fingerprinting
      Huntington’s Disease Clinical Investigation and DNA Electrophoresis
      Restriction Enzyme Analysis 
      Bacterial Transformation-General - Teaches Genotype to Phenotype Concepts
      Bacterial Transformation-Regulation- Teaches Gene Regulation/Inducible Promoter
      Bacterial Transformation-Regulation with PCR
      Examining a Single Gene Using PCR
      ELISA assay
      Muscle Protein Electrophoresis
      Protein Evolution
      Microarray

Middle School Activities
      Kiwi DNA Extraction
      DNA Fingerprinting
      Cootie Genetics
      Disease Detection



High School Activities

Kiwi DNA Extraction: How do you purify DNA from cells? Students extract DNA from kiwifruit to learn about the chemical and physical properties of DNA. This activity provides a first-hand understanding of how DNA can be isolated for further analysis, such as DNA fingerprinting. Students also reinforce their understanding of cell structure and biological macromolecules. We use a kiwifruit protocol because it uses commonplace materials and requires little equipment. [45 minutes]
[Student Guide][Teacher Guide]

Agarose Gel Electrophoresis with Dyes: What is electrophoresis? Students use agarose gel electrophoresis to determine the composition of different biological materials. This activity helps students learn how molecules can be separated and identified by electrophoresis. [50-60 minutes]
[Student Guide][Teacher Guide]

DNA Fingerprinting: How is DNA evidence prepared and analyzed in a crime case? Students perform agarose gel electrophoresis to analyze DNA samples from a mock crime scene. Based on DNA fingerprinting profiles that are simulated to represent the three suspects, and DNA from the crime scene, students determine which suspect likely committed the crime. This activity helps students understand how DNA variation in individuals can be analyzed in practical applications such as genetic testing and forensics. [120 minutes—One block period + part of one normal period]

   Some Examples:

 

Huntington’s Disease Clinical Investigation and DNA Electrophoresis: This activity will allow students to evaluate two patients with possible neurological symptoms.  Students will come up with possible diagnosis and determine how to test for these diagnoses.  The activity is completed with an electrophoresis to test for Huntington’s disease in the patients. [One 50 min class period for introduction, 1-3 class periods for research/diagnosis & tests reporting, 50 min gel electrophoresis, and partial class period follow-up and final analysis] [Student Guide] [Teacher Guide] [Other Downloads]

 

Restriction Enzyme Analysis: How is DNA analyzed and manipulated using restriction enzymes? Students digest bacteria phage lambda DNA with different restriction enzymes and analyze the resulting DNA profiles. Students compare the DNA fragments with the known restriction map of bacteria phage lambda. This activity demonstrates how DNA sequences can be mapped and characterized, such as in the Human Genome Project and how DNA is cut and arranged during genetic engineering. [50 minutes, overnight incubation, 90 minutes, plus 50 minutes]

[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

Bacterial Transformation-General - Teaches Genotype to Phenotype Concepts:  What is genetic engineering, and how is this technique used? Students perform a genetic engineering experiment using bacterial transformation to introduce fluorescent gene into Escherichia coli (E. coli), to produce bacteria that "glow in the dark". This activity helps students understand what genes do and how they can be manipulated by genetic engineering. This activity will confirm that a difference in genes (by transformation) will result in a difference in visible traits. [50 minutes, overnight incubation, and part of next 50 class] [Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

Bacterial Transformation-Regulation- Teaches Gene Regulation/Inducible Promoter: Transform E. coli with green fluorescent protein gene and observe its regulation with an inducible promoter.  This activity helps students to visualize regulation and relate this regulation to the lac operon system.  Highly recommended for AP Biology. This activity can be combined with a PCR investigation to confirm that the GFP gene is present in the noninduced E. coli see PCR (A). [50 minutes, overnight incubation, and part of the next 50 min class] [Student Guide] 

Bacterial Transformation-Regulation with PCR: This activity allows the gene regulation concept to be presented in a more inquiry fashion.  Students will transform E. coli with green fluorescent protein gene and will observe the absence of glowing protein.  They will hypothesis why the cells did not glow and use PCR (B) to test their hypothesis.  After the PCR  the students will learn the regulation of this gene, and will induce the promoter to express the product. This activity helps students to visualize regulation and relate this regulation to the lac operon system.  Highly recommended for AP Biology and Biotechnology Course. [50 minutes, overnight incubation, and next 50 min class, then PCR (see below) then another one or two 50 min class(es),depending on how much is inquiry, plus a part of a class to complete the activity] [Student Guide]

Examining a Single Gene Using PCR: In this lab investigation students will learn about a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that allows us to examine a very small piece of DNA. The piece of DNA that is replicated is called the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene. This gene codes for the GFP protein, an protein normally produced by jellyfish that is transformed into bacteria in a plasmid (pGLO). This activity can be conducted inquiry style depending on how the educator sets it up.

PCR(A) [Student Guide]
PCR(B) [Student Guide]

ELISA assay: How can you detect a viral disease, such as AIDS? Students perform a diagnostic test, the ELISA assay, to examine the spread of a simulated viral epidemic in a class. The assay detects which individuals are infected, and students apply their knowledge of immunology to understand how the assay works at the molecular level. By analyzing the classroom data, students determine the original carriers of the virus and examine how transmitted diseases spread in a population. [50 minutes plus 90 minutes]
[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

Muscle Protein Electrophoresis: Almost all of the cells in your body have the exact same DNA, so how can all of the cells in your body look different? A cell must decide which DNA to use to make the proteins it needs to be that cell. For example, all muscle cells (skeletal, smooth, and cardiac) have both actin and myosin that help them contract, but the mechanism of contraction is different in different cells: cardiac and skeletal muscle use tropomyosin and smooth muscle doesn't. Since smooth muscle doesn't need tropomyosin to be able to contract, it doesn't make the tropomyosin protein. This activity allows students to understand that different genes are expressed in different tissues and therefore different proteins are present. [90 minutes plus 50 minutes]
[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

Protein Evolution: Mutations in an organism's DNA can change its characteristics, and these characteristics can help the organism to survive and reproduce. Sometimes, organisms can change so much over many generations that their offspring become a new species. Some of their DNA and proteins will be very different, and some will be the same. Students can analyze muscle tissue from different species to correlate relatedness, by evaluating protein profiles and looking for proteins that are the same in all the species and proteins that are different. [90 minutes plus 50 minutes]
[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

Microarray: Students will monitor the gene expression of numerous genes using a technique called microarray analysis. The class can analyze the difference in gene expression in breast caner tissue and compare that to non-cancer tissue. Students will learn about how cells control their expression of genes, what kinds of regulations are necessary and what genes and pathways are affected in cancer cells. Alternatively the class can analyze the difference in gene expression in the leaves of a plant that has been heat stressed versus not stressed. [can be done in 50 minutes -- 90 minutes to include discussion]
[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide] [ Roots of Cancer.pdf, Hallmarks of Cancer.pdf ]

 

 

Middle School Activities

Kiwi DNA Extraction:  How do you purify DNA from cells? Students extract DNA from kiwifruit to learn about the chemical and physical properties of DNA. This activity provides a first-hand understanding of how DNA can be isolated for further analysis, such as DNA fingerprinting. Students also reinforce their understanding of cell structure and biological macromolecules. We use a kiwifruit protocol because it uses commonplace materials and requires little equipment. [45 minutes]
[Student Guide] [Teacher Guide]

DNA Fingerprinting:  How is DNA evidence prepared and analyzed in a crime case? Students perform agarose gel electrophoresis to analyze DNA (dye simulation) samples from a mock crime scene. Based on DNA fingerprinting profiles with dyes simulated to represent the DNA a comparison is made to the crime scene, students determine which suspect likely committed the crime. This activity helps students understand how DNA variation in individuals can be analyzed in practical applications such as genetic testing and forensics. [50 minutes to introduce electrophoresis and practice pipetting, 50 minutes to run gels, partial next day to analyze results]

Some Examples:

 

Cootie Genetics:  In this activity students will simulate the work or Gregor Mendel to investigate how traits are inherited.  Mate organisms with different true breeding traits and determine what happens.  Figure out which traits are dominant, recessive, what probability an offspring will have of getting a certain trait and have fun doing it.  This lesson should be introduced before DNA and Punnett Squares. [three to four 50 minute class periods]   **Please contact Nadja Anderson, BIOTECH Project Director (nadja@email.arizona.edu) for cootie information and activities.

Disease Detection:  Students will simulate the outbreak of a viral disease in the classroom starting with one  individual that is infected.  They will analyze the classroom data, to determine the original carrier of the virus and examine how transmitted diseases spread in a population. [50 minutes]
[Student Guide][Teacher Guide]