Towson University
Case of the Crown Jewels
Can your biology class crack the Case of the Crown Jewels? Junior forensics experts try their hands at DNA restriction analysis in an exciting lab activity. The lesson introduces the concept of restriction analysis, teaches pipetting and...
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Gel Electrophoresis: Sort and See the DNA
Students construct DNA fingerprints. In this genetics lesson, students watch an on-line gel electrophoresis animation, then they work in groups to use a restriction map to create a restriction enzyme and use that to arrange a DNA...
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Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
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Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2007
Environmental science enthusiasts show what they know at the end of the year by taking this full-fledged final exam. They answer multiple choice, graph interpretation, and essay analysys questions, 73 of them in all. Topics range from...
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Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2003
The living environment, from the interior of a cell to the complex relationships among populations, are queried in this final examination. Learners look at air pollution maps, diagrams of cells, population graphs, and drawing of cells....
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How Can Gel-electrophoresis Help in the Identification of a Dna Sample?
Learners investigate the principles of gel electrophoresis and DNA testing. They watch and discuss a PowerPoint presentation, and solve a DNA mystery using the information they learned from the presentation.
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The Cloning of Plasmid and Spinach DNA
Students will first extract genomic DNA from spinach and perform a restriction enzyme digestion on both the spinach DNA and the plasmid using the same restriction enzyme. They then ligate the cut plasmid DNA with the cut spinach DNA in...
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Comparison of Four-, Six-, And Eight-bp Cuts in Calf Thymus Dna
Students investigate the use of restriction enzymes to recognize a four-, six-, and eight-nucleotide sequence. They utilize restrictive endonucleases to cut Thymus DNA and compare results by viewing the DNA fragments on Agarose Gel...
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Cloning of Plasmid and Spinach DNA
Students ligate fragments of genomic DNA from spinach into a vector plasmid. They perform a restriction enzyme digestion. Student use a ligated DNA molecule to transform E. coli cells. Students analyze their procedures and outcome of...
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DNA Sequencing Model Lab
Students pretend they are each genetic engineers with a test tube of unknown DNA (PCR'd) possibly taken from blood cells of someone with a genetic condition.
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DNA Fingerprinting
Ninth graders investigate what restriction enzymes do, and explain how a DNA sample can link a suspect to a crime.
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DNA Recombination II
Students model recombination in DNA. They color the DNA sample and cut it out. Students use their "restriction enzymes" to cut the DNA into specific fragments. They separate the fragments using the "gel electrotrophoresis." Students...
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DNA Fingerprinting with Restriction Enzymes
Young scholars will illustrate how restriction enzymes work by piecing together parts of a puzzle. Then they apply this knowledge to help them analyze genetic evidence from the scene of a crime as well as to help them comprehend how a...
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Fly Forensics
Freddy's Friendly Fruit Market is under attack by fruit flies, and it is up to your aspiring biologists to solve the crime! By reading and analyzing the phenotypes, detectives determine which fly is responsible. This memorable assignment...
Beyond Benign
Who’s Your Daddy? Finding the Father
Time for the reveal! The nineth lesson of the series of 18 has scholars compare DNA fingerprints of cats to their samples to identify the father of Sparky's kittens from previous lessons. They analyze the DNA bands to determine the match.
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Who Done It?
Pick and choose which activities to include in this crime scene investigation. Junior detectives can examine fingerprints, DNA, blood samples, or bone structure. The plan suggests you have teams solve a mystery, but it does not give you...
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Using VNTR Analysis to Identify Guilt at a Crime Scene
Students collect DNA from cheek cells. They compare and contrast the processes of DNA replication and PCR. They discuss how this information can be used to determine guilt at crime scenes.
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Determination of Phylogenetic Relationships Using Restriction Analysis
Students applied various mathematical analyses to interpret their data. By using the resulting DNA fragment patterns from several enzymes students established a possible evolutionary relationship among the mice.
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"Who Done It?" Analysis of Molecular Fingerprints Left At the Scene of the Crime
High schoolers examine different types of DNA fragments. They record and analyze their results. They determine who is the criminal in the story.
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Who Done It?
Students work in groups to solve various murder mysteries using DNA evidence to implicate suspects. Teams compete to solve the crimes the fastest, while using various scientific methods to accomplish their task.
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How is Foreign DNA Inserted into Organisms During the Genetic Engineering of Crops?
Students examine the positive benefits and negative consequences of genetically modified organisms following a lecture covering key biotech concepts and techniques. Students then conduct and experiment comparing the travel rate of...
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DNA Race Track
Twelfth graders simulate a DNA fragment running through a gel electrophoresis in a class activity. Students work in teams as a DNA sample with each person on the team representing a fragment that moves through the gel at a specific speed.
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Island Biogeography and Evolution
Students use this activity as a logic problem that is based on real organisms and real data. The problem is to develop phylogenies for seven related populations of lizards living on the Canary Islands. Three phylogenetic charts are...
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Sequencing
Students gather information about gene sequencing. In this biology lesson, students use the Internet to access information about gene sequencing, then work in pairs to read and record a gene sequence. Lesson includes extension activities.