Lesson Plan

Teacher:

Subject Area: Science/ DNA

Grade Level:         (Grade School)

Unit Title: DNA Basics

Lesson Title: Building Blocks of DNA

Objectives (Write 2-5 objectives stating expected learner outcomes.):

Learn the basic shape of DNA, Learn what the basic function of DNA is.

Needed Materials: DNA Model Packets, DNA Presentation, DNA Questionnaire.

Procedure

Sponge Activity (What activity will be done when students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be learned?): DNA Presentation and short Bill Nye clip.

Anticipatory Set (List focus questions that will be used to get students thinking about the day's lesson.): How does our body know where to put our nose, eyes, mouth, arms, legs? What if your arm was coming out of your head instead of your side? What about the color of our eyes and hair? What if _____ had orange hair, or ________ had a purple nose?

What do you need to build a house? How do you know where to put all of the materials to build a house? Blue prints! Does anyone know what DNA is? DNA is the blue print our body uses to tell us where things go…. what body part needs to be made and what it will look like.

Does anyone know where we find DNA? DNA is inside every cell of our body telling each cell what it should be. It tells your nose to be shaped like a nose instead of an ear. DNA Tells your hair to be brown or to be blond…

Content Delivery (What information will be delivered to the students before they begin so they can be successful at the activity and understand its purpose?): DNA Presentation and short Bill Nye clip.

Activity (What activity will be done to teach the concept?): The students will be building a model of DNA out of Candy.

Student Assessment (What type of homework will be assigned to students to allow them independent or group practice with the concept?): Short Questionnaire.

Closure (What will be said at the end of the lesson to ensure students understand the day's objectives, bring closure to the activity they just completed, and prepare them for the next day's lesson?): Even tough DNA can not been seen by the naked eye we all need DNA to tell our bodies how to function and what we should look like.

Additional Comments (Identify potential problems that may occur and list possible solutions to those problems and write notes to help remember to address special students' individual needs):

 

 

DNA Questionnaire                                        Name:________________________

1. What does a DNA model look like?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How many basic parts make up DNA

______________________________

3. Can you see DNA?

___________________________

DNA Presentation

DNA Model Instructions

What you need:

· Red licorice pieces. - Cut into 2-3 Centimeter pieces

· Black licorice pieces. - Cut into 2-3 Centimeter pieces

· 4 different colors of Mike and Ikes.

· Two pieces of yarn

· One needle

· Toothpicks

1. Take one piece of yarn and sew the licorice pieces on. One black one red one black one red… and do the same to the other piece of yarn.

Make sure your candy strings look similar!

Label which color represents the sugar molecules and which represents the phosphate molecules. Write this down on your paper.

2. Lay the two chains down side by side so pieces of the same color are next to each other.

3. Count the number of sugar molecules you have in one chain (you should have the same number in both chains). You need to have the same number of toothpicks.

4. Divide the Mike and Ikes into their four different colors. Label names to the each of the four colors to represent the nucleotide bases - adenine, cytosine, guanine or thymine.

For example:

A for Adenine. T for Thymine. C for Cytosine. G for Guanine.

A is red T is green C is yellow G is orange. Write this on your paper

(you choose what colors you want them to be.)

5. Pair the bases on the toothpicks. Remember A can only be paired with T and G can only be paired with C. Make sure the right colors are matching.

6. Join the two chains together so they look like the rungs of a ladder. Push each end of the tooth pick into the sugar molecules. (look at which one you labeled as the sugar molecule.) Your candy can be in any order you want. Just make sure that each tooth pick has one T and one A or one C and one G.

7. Hold the two ends of the ladder and twist it slightly. This will make a twisted ladder and look like a DNA model. Congratulations!

DNA Labels

Phosphate Molecule_________________

Sugar Molecule_________________

A________________

G________________

T________________

C________________