LEARN NC: Search Results

CSI Dublin: The Hunt for the Irish Potato Killer: In these lesson plans, students will act as CSI agents investigating the mysterious pathogen that caused the massive potato crop failure and resultant Great Famine of 1845 in Ireland.; Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)

DNA extraction: In Restoring the American chestnut, page 6; In this lesson, students model the process of electrophoresis and DNA fingerprinting. They will evaluate DNA evidence and look for a gene that is resistant to the chestnut blight.; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Science); By Shelley Casey.

DNA wrap: Packaging matters: In this lesson, students learn about epigenetics and its role in gene expression.; Format: lesson plan; By Dana Haine.

Identifying a potato killer via PCR and gel electrophoresis: In CSI Dublin: The Hunt for the Irish Potato Killer, page 4; In this lesson, students use DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, and gel electrophoresis techniques to identify positive and negative leaf samples for the presence of the plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans.; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Science); By Rebecca Hite.

Interdisciplinary integrated unit on DNA and genetics Part A: Science: The first part of an interdisciplinary week-long unit on DNA and genetics, focusing on science. Parts B and C of the unit focus on math and language arts.; Format: lesson plan (grade 7–9 Information Skills and Science); By Jane Lentz, Jimmy White, Tori Goldrick, and Marlene Smith.

Low-tech PCR: In Restoring the American chestnut, page 7; This simulation and manual PCR demonstration is designed for classrooms without a thermocycler and those that do not have enough time to do a full manual PCR. It is designed to give students the concepts and vocabulary as well as give them a visual representation of the process.; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Science); By Shelley Casey.

Marker-assisted selection: In this lesson students will learn about marker-assisted selection in trees. Marker-assisted selection is an indirect selection process where a trait of interest is selected based on a marker linked to a trait of interest. Students will conduct two labs. In one, they will extract DNA from a peach and in the other, they will use gel electrophoresis to test tree DNA for frost resistance.; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Science); By Harold Mackin.

Modeling bacterial transformation: In Restoring the American chestnut, page 10; This lesson walks students through the process of bacterial transformation. It is ideal for classrooms that do not have the time or money for all students to complete a bacterial transformation.; Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 English Language Arts and Science); By Shelley Casey.

Protein synthesis with words: This activity is aimed at helping students understand protein synthesis, DNA, mRNA, tRNA, ribosomes, and mutations by using words.; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Science); By Bert Wartski.

Restoring the American chestnut: A blight devastated American chestnut trees in the early 1900s. In this unit students will study how biotechnology is being used to develop a blight-resistant tree. They will engage in hands-on activities to apply their knowledge of DNA and genetics to simulate the steps needed to find the genes for resistance and insert them into an American chestnut tree. Lessons are designed to be used for any level of biology and do not require high-tech equipment.; Format: lesson plan (multiple pages)

What is genomics?: In Restoring the American chestnut, page 9; Mapping genomes helps scientists study the location and function of specific genes. The process simulated in this lesson was used in the Human Genome Project and is currently being used by scientists all over the world to map genomes of various organisms. The lesson specifically looks at the use of BAC clones to make a map of DNA fragments which have been cut by the same restriction enzyme (a restriction map).; Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Science); By Shelley Casey.

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