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Group Work and Class Response Activity

Instructor Activity Guide for Unit 1: The Fascinating World of Cells Activity

Best For
Any class size

In-Class Time
2 x 50 - 60 minutes

Implementation Effort
Low

Bloom's Taxonomy
All levels


Resources for this Activity

Recommended Tools


Activity Summary

In this activity, students will synthesize the chapter learning objectives and broad concepts from Chapters 1-5 (Unit 1: Setting the Stage).

This activity is intended for in-class use after students have gone through the Unit 1 material (Chapters 1-5) and is designed to take place over 2 class sessions. If you would like to complete the activity in one class session, then include slide 51 (stopping point) and do not print the last page (Table 4) of the student handout.

If you would like to grade this activity, the student handout and the in-class response questions are designed for completion credit.


Learning Objectives

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:


Running the Activity

Instructor Prep: 30 minutes

Review this activity guide. Download the instructor and student handouts and the activity PowerPoint file. Review the PowerPoint slides and the instructor handout, and make copies of the student handout (one copy per student in the class).

A polling software such as iClicker Cloud or Poll Everywhere is recommended to assess students' answers and/or participation. If using Poll Everywhere, you will need to add the Poll Everywhere information to the bottom of the slides with clicker questions. The slides with clicker questions are indicated.

Optional: to save on class time, can assign students into teams of 2-3 beforehand.

Pre-class

Since this activity is designed for students to synthesize the concepts from Chapters 1 through 5, can recommend students review the broad concepts from these chapters before class but there is not any formal pre-class preparation needed.  

In-class:

This activity integrates the use of the Unit 1 In-Class Activity Class Response Questions (PPT) with the student handout (The Fascinating World of Cells).

To save on class time, ask students to pick up the handout as they enter the classroom.

The instructor notes for the PowerPoint presentation can be found both in the slide deck and outlined below.

CLASS SESSION 1

SLIDES 2-3: Set the context for the activity: < 1 minute

The students will synthesize the broad concepts from Unit 1 (Chapters 1-5) using pathogenic virulence of Salmonella enterica in space as a case study. The key focus of this activity is to highlight the fascinating world of cells and the importance of having a strong knowledge foundation of biological molecules. The table on slide 2 is Table 1 on the student handout. The source of this information comes from: https://www.who.int/news/item/27-02-2017-who-publishes-list-of-bacteria-for-which-new-antibiotics-are-urgently-needed.  

For your background knowledge, this is a helpful resource: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance.

On slide 3, each section of text is animated. The referenced paper is Wilson et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 9;104(41):16299-304. Background figure of International Space Station from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-facts-and-figures/ 

SLIDES 4-5 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer. The answer slide (slide 5) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The explanation is animated so that it appears on mouse click.

Key terms students need to know are “autotrophs”, “photoautotrophs”, and “heterotrophs” . These are found in Module 5.1, Lesson 1.

SLIDE 6: Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria: < 1 minute

Point out to students that the WHO table of high priority bacteria is organized by whether bacteria are Gram (+) or Gram (-). Bring to their attention that Salmonella is a Gram (-) bacteria.

SLIDE 7: Introduction to bacterial cell envelope: < 1 minute

Introduction to the bacterial cell envelope (segue to reviewing lipids and cell membranes). The second section of text is animated to appear along with the image of the cell with its cell membrane labeled when mouse is clicked.

SLIDES 8-9 (CLICKER QUESTION): 3-5 minutes

Give students 2-3 minutes to submit their answer. The answer slide (slide 9) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDE 10: Review of the cell membrane: 1-2 minutes

This image is adapted from Figure 4.24D and is a good review of the properties of cell membranes.

SLIDES 11-12 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer. The answer slide (slide 12) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The explanation is animated so that it appears on mouse click.

SLIDES 13-14 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer. The answer slide (slide 14) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The explanation is animated so that it appears on mouse click.

Key term students need to know is “hydrocarbon”. This is found in Module 4.1, Lesson 2.

SLIDES 15-16: Continued introduction to bacterial cell envelope: < 1 minute

Continued introduction to the bacterial cell envelope. Figure adapted from: Kapoor G, Saigal S, and Elongavan A. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2017 Jul-Sep; 33(3): 300–305.

SLIDES 17-18: Brief description of peptidoglycan: < 1 minute

A brief description of peptidoglycan, one of the major components of the bacterial cell wall. This is included so that students can understand how Gram staining works. For additional background information regarding peptidoglycan and bacterial cell walls: https://open.oregonstate.education/generalmicrobiology/chapter/bacteria-cell-walls/.

SLIDES 19-21: Brief description of Gram staining: < 1 minute

A brief description of how Gram staining works. Figure adapted from: Kapoor G, Saigal S, and Elongavan A. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2017 Jul-Sep; 33(3): 300–305.

SLIDE 22: Student Handout - The Fascinating World of Cells - Table 2: 5-7 minutes

Students will need a writing utensil (pen or pencil) to fill in Table 2 of the handout in student teams.

Might take 5-7 minutes to both form teams of 2-3 students and discuss Table 2 within their teams. If you think you might be limited on time, can assign the student teams before class.

SLIDE 23: Go over student answers to Table 2 of the handout: < 1 minute

The answer slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDE 24 (OPTIONAL): Cell membrane review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review the major components of a cell membrane and the structure of a phospholipid (Chapter 4).

SLIDE 25: Go over student answers to Table 2 of the handout: < 1 minute

The answer slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. Transmembrane channels are proteins (polypeptides) and so they are made from amino acids.

SLIDE 26 (OPTIONAL): Amino acids review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review the major components of an amino acid and the chemical properties of the 20 amino acids (Chapter 2).

SLIDE 27: Go over student answers to Table 2 of the handout: 1 minute

The answer slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) have a lipid domain (lipo- part of their name) covalently attached to carbohydrate groups (where polysaccharide part of their name comes from). In humans, LPSs typically act as bacterial toxins and trigger the immune response in a bacterial infection.

SLIDE 28 (OPTIONAL): Carbohydrate structure review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review carbohydrate structure (Chapter 2).

SLIDE 29 (OPTIONAL): Description of lipopolysaccharides

This is an optional slide that can be used if students are interested in knowing what is a lipopolysaccharide. Figure adapted from: Bidne KL, Dickson MJ, Ross JW, Baumgard LH, Keating AF. Disruption of female reproductive function by endotoxins. Reproduction. 2018 Apr;155(4):R169-R181.

SLIDE 30: Go over student answers to Table 2 of the handout: < 1 minute

The answer slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDE 31 (OPTIONAL): Reminder of peptidoglycan structure

Optional slide that serves as a reminder of peptidoglycan structure, one of the major components of the bacterial cell wall.

SLIDE 32: Student Handout - The Fascinating World of Cells: 5-7 minutes

Students will need a writing utensil (pen or pencil) to fill in this part of the handout.

SLIDE 33: Go over student answers to this part of the handout: 1-2 minutes

The carbohydrate monomers are molecules of glucose. The answers are animated and appear sequentially with each mouse click.

SLIDE 34 (OPTIONAL): Glycosidic bond formation review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review glycosidic bond formation (Chapter 2).

SLIDE 35: Go over student answers to this part of the handout: < 1 minute

The answers are animated and appear sequentially with each mouse click.

SLIDE 36 (OPTIONAL): Peptide bond formation review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review peptide bond formation (Chapter 2).

SLIDE 37: Go over student answers to this part of the handout: 2-3 minutes

The nucleotide monomers are a molecule of adenosine monophosphate (top) and cytidine monophosphate (bottom). The answers are animated and appear sequentially with each mouse click.

SLIDE 38 (OPTIONAL): Nucleotide structure and phosphodiester bond formation review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review nucleotide structure and phosphodiester bond formation (Chapter 2).

SLIDE 39: Student Handout - The Fascinating World of Cells - Table 3: 2-3 minutes

Students will need a writing utensil (pen or pencil) to fill in Table 3 of the handout.

SLIDES 40-43: Go over student answers to Table 3 of the handout: 2-3 minutes

The answer slides are hidden - will need to unhide them when presenting.

SLIDES 44-45 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-5 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 45) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The question “Why might this be the case?” on slide 45 is animated and will appear upon mouse click. If you have advanced students, can consider asking them to provide a reason for their prediction before going over slides 46-49 (in which case you’ll need a few more minutes for this slide).

SLIDES 46-49: Antibiotic resistance in Gram (-) bacteria: 2-3 minutes

These slides provide some reasons for why antibiotic resistance occurs more commonly in Gram (-) bacteria.

Figure from paper: Miller SI. Antibiotic Resistance and Regulation of the Gram-Negative Bacterial Outer Membrane Barrier by Host Innate Immune Molecules. mBio. 2016 Sep 27;7(5):e01541-16.

SLIDE 50: Majority of high priority bacteria are Gram (-): < 1 minute

This activity is designed to take place across two class sessions - this is about the halfway point where you should pause until the next session. If you would like to complete the activity in one class session, then the next slide can be unhidden and used to end the activity.

SLIDE 51: (OPTIONAL) activity wrap-up: 1-2 minutes

If you would like to complete the activity in one class session, then unhide this slide when presenting as a way to end the activity. This is the headline of the PNAS paper that served as inspiration for this case study. The second segment of text is animated to appear on mouse click. Hopefully this activity has given students an appreciation of the fascinating world of cells and the importance of having a strong knowledge foundation of biological molecules.  


CLASS SESSION 2

SLIDES 52-54: Introduction to the microarray assay: 2-3 minutes

Some additional resources on microarrays: https://www.nature.com/scitable/definition/microarray-202/

https://microbenotes.com/dna-microarray/ 

https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/DNA-Microarray-Technology 

Samuel D Conzone, Carlo G Pantano. (2004) “Glass slides to DNA microarrays”, Materials Today, 7(3), 20-26. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702104001221)

SLIDES 55-57: Microarray experiment to detect changes in Salmonella gene expression in space: 2-3 minutes

Experiment comes from this paper: Wilson JW et al. (2007) PNAS, 104(41), 16299-16304. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.07071551

SLIDE 58: Brief description of microarray results: 1-2 minutes  

Brief description of microarray results. The text is animated so that each segment appears on mouse click.

SLIDES 59-60 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 60) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDES 61-62 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 62) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDES 63-64 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 64) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting.

SLIDE 65 (OPEN-ENDED QUESTION): 3-5 minutes

Give students 2-3 minutes to discuss the question in their student teams. Students might give a variety of answers. Guide them accordingly. The reason this is important is because there is not necessarily a 1:1 correlation between mRNA and protein levels.

SLIDES 66-67 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 67) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. Figure is from PDB ID: 2YLC, adapted from Figure 2A of Sauer E, Weichenrieder O. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 9;108(32):13065-70.

SLIDE 68 (OPTIONAL): Levels of protein structure review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review the different levels of protein structure (Chapter 3).

SLIDES 69-70 (CLICKER QUESTION): 2-3 minutes

Give students 1-2 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 70) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The explanation is animated so that it appears on mouse click. Data comes from this paper: Sauer, E., Weichenrieder, O. (2011) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108: 13065.

SLIDE 71 (OPTIONAL): RNA versus DNA review

Optional slide that can be used to briefly review the differences between RNA and DNA (Chapter 2).

SLIDES 72-73 (CLICKER QUESTION): 3-5 minutes

Give students 2-3 minutes to submit their answer to the clicker question. The answer slide (slide 73) is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. The explanation is animated so that it appears on mouse click.

PDB ID: 2YLC adapted from Figure 2B of Sauer E, Weichenrieder O. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 9;108(32):13065-70.

SLIDES 74-75: Student Handout - The Fascinating World of Cells - Table 4: 7-10 minutes

Students will need a writing utensil (pen or pencil) to fill in Table 4 of the handout (in their same student teams).

On slide 74, the text is animated so that each segment appears on mouse click.

SLIDE 76: Go over student answers to Table 4 of the handout: 1-2 minutes

This slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. For 1a - 1d, if the resulting protein of the target mRNA of protein X has no effect on Salmonella virulence, then the changes in protein X gene expression in space will have no effect on Salmonella virulence.

SLIDE 77: Go over student answers to Table 4 of the handout: 1-2 minutes

This slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. For 2a and 2b, it is straightforward to understand the predicted effect on Salmonella virulence. When you increase one, the other increases and vice versa when you decrease one, the other decreases.

SLIDE 78: Go over student answers to Table 4 of the handout: 2-3 minutes

This slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. For 2c, the effect of increased protein X expression in space is an increase in the degradation of an mRNA that when translated increases virulence. Increasing the degradation of something that increases virulence results in decreased levels of virulence. For 2d, the effect of decreased protein X expression in space is a decrease in the degradation of an mRNA that when translated increases virulence. Decreasing the degradation of something that increases virulence results in increased levels of virulence.

SLIDE 79: Go over student answers to Table 4 of the handout: 2-3 minutes

This slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. For 3a, the effect of increased protein X expression in space is an increase in the translation of an mRNA that when translated decreases virulence. Increasing the translation of something that decreases virulence results in decreased levels of virulence. For 3b, the effect of decreased protein X expression in space is a decrease in the translation of an mRNA that when translated decreases virulence. Decreasing the translation of something that decreases virulence results in increased levels of virulence.

SLIDE 80: Go over student answers to Table 4 of the handout: 2-3 minutes

This slide is hidden - will need to unhide it when presenting. For 3c, the effect of increased protein X expression in space is an increase in the degradation of an mRNA that when translated decreases virulence. Increasing the degradation of something that decreases virulence results in increased levels of virulence. For 3d, the effect of decreased protein X expression in space is a decrease in the degradation of an mRNA that when translated decreases virulence. Decreasing the degradation of something that decreases virulence results in decreased levels of virulence.

SLIDES 81-82: Activity wrap-up: 1-2 minutes

These are slides to wrap up the activity. On slide 82, this is the headline of the PNAS paper that served as inspiration for this case study (Wilson et al. 2007). The second segment of text is animated to appear on mouse click. Hopefully this activity has given students an appreciation of the fascinating world of cells and the importance of having a strong knowledge foundation of biological molecules!  

Post-class (Optional)

None