Week 6 "Smiley Genes"



Week 6 "Smiley Genes"

 

This week IMSA students began learning about Gregor Mendel and his research of pea plants.  We learned about genes and thier alleles and how they combine from both parents to determine an organism's genotypes (dominant or recesive genes) and phenotypes (the appearance of the traits on teh organism).   Students had a great time creating thier own "offspring" using a coin flip and some basic genetic traits to determine the appearance of a potential "offspring".  The results were quite interesting!!!! :) We had a great time with this one! Too funny!

Week 5 "Microscopic Multiplpication"

Week 5

 

"Microscopic Multiplication"

 

This week IMSA students explored the challenging world of cell multiplication.  Mrs. Robinson led the group on a mini lesson of using exponents and scientific notation.  From their students discussed what they already knew about cell division and we explored this topic through a mock exercise on cell multiplication using beads.  Students were given a specific amount of beads and were led carefully on how to chart exponential growth of their bead (cell) population.  Again using a data table and their knowledge of scientific notation, students were able to mathematically calculate some predictions about cell growth (doubling).  There were some strong connections made in this lesson to cancer cells and how biotechnology has made it possible to study and research different types of cancer.  

Week 3 & 4 "Welcome to Cell Middle School"

Week 3

 

We spent much of our time this week on researching different organelles of plant and animal cells.  We looked at what the function of each part was as well as how the parts work together.  Each group was assigned two organelles to research and they then shared with the whole group as much of their information as possible.  We discussed that understanding cells and their functions are a huge part of biotechnology.  We then tried to connect today's research to how it could be helpful in the field of biotechnology. 





 

Week 4

 

This week we spent some time reviewing the different organelles of plant and animal cells.  We even had a fun trivia competition to kick things off!  The main goal of our lesson today was to further our knowledge and understanding of cell organelles and their functions by making a school related analogy for each cell part.  Students had to choose parts of a school building to relate to the different parts of a cell.  Again, we reviewed why knowledge of cells and their organelles is so important to the field of biotechnology. 

IMSA Week 2 "Natural Selection- What it Takes to Survive"

IMSA Week 2 "Natural Selection- What it Takes to Survive"

 

We began with discussion about what "natural selection" & survival of the fittest" means. From there we made some predictions about what might happen to a population of bean seeds under some special conditions. Students were then given trays with different sized holes in the bottom and a bag of 4 different types of bean seeds. They were asked to place a certain population of each type of bean in their "environment" and shake it 15 times and then record what happened to their bean population. They then recorded data and doubled the surviving bean population and repeated the shaking and data recording. They repeated the doubling process for 6 "generations" and observed what happened to their bean population. From here we analyzed data using line graphs. We also had a nice deep discussion about natural selection and genetically engineering plants for survival.

 

 

 

 

Week 1 Biotech Timeline "This is a Line Up"

After brainstorming in small groups about what they thought biotechnology was all about, we got started on our first big activity for this unit. ("This is a Line up")Students were given an event from biotechnology history and asked to find its place on a timeline posted on the wall.  Students had to interact with each other and reason through where each event might be located and why.  They then had to make their selection as to where then felt they needed to stand on the timeline.  As a whole group, we then discussed where the events actually belonged and why.  We also took a look back at some of our ideas from our original brainstorm about biotechnology and made some corrections to our original ideas.