During the first part of science class today, we talked
about plant cells. I asked students to think about what structures studied so
far (in animal plants) might be found in plant cells. They mentioned cell
membrane, nucleus, nucleolus, rough endoplasmic reticulum, and smooth
endoplasmic reticulum. I talked about the cell wall, vacuole, chloroplast,
mitochondria, and plasmodesmata. We made a drawing of a plant cell with labels
and descriptions. I then assigned their cell model homework (due next Monday,
November 5th). We have 3 students working on animal cell models, and
3 working on plant cell models. They will present their models on Monday. I
gave them printed instructions for this project (will send parents an
electronic version), and they are encouraged to use their drawings from class,
and reliable Internet sources (feel free to ask me for references if you don’t
know much about the subject) when working on this.
After the break, we talked about DNA – chromosomes, and
structure of DNA. My goal was to provide basic, introductory information about
transcription and translation so that we could play the “genetic Frankenstein
game”. This game can be used for an active, interactive introduction to genes,
transcription and translation. Kids are assigned a few physical traits, and
asked to build a piece of DNA coding for the assigned traits (codes were
provided to students on a handout that is in their science binder that should
go home this week). At the end of the game, kids translate the sequences into a
Frankenstein drawing. Unfortunately, we were running out of time, and I feel
like most concepts weren’t clear. I will spend more time on this activity next
week.
A quick note: we will eventually talk about evolution of
life on Earth and have a discussion about cells from an evolutionary
perspective.
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| Katrin had enough time to finish a piece of the DNA molecule for the genetic Frankenstein game. |
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