GENOMICS LEARNING JOURNEY
DNA & Diseases
Intermediate Activities & Discussion
INTERMEDIATE ACTIVITIES
Recommended Grades: 3-8
Total time for Activities: 2 hours 15 min
Topics:
Careers in Agriculture: 15 min
Viral Packaging: 30 min
Size Comparisons: Virus to Humans: 30 min
Contamination Detectives: 30 min
Build a Bacteria!: 30 min
Recommended for all activities: access to a class computer to project videos, discussion and activity slides
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CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE
Ask Group Questions:
Why would we care about biotech in agriculture?
What biotech jobs do you think exist in the agricultural industry?
Watch this video that talks about biotech in agriculture.
After video, ask:
What jobs did you see in the video? Compare it to the list you had previously created.
What skills do you think are important in the biotech industry?
What was an interesting fact that you learned from the video?
What do you want to learn more about?
VIRAL PACKAGING DISCUSSION
What do we know about viruses?
Why is knowing about virus behavior important?
We’ll be designing a model of a viral container. Why do you think knowing that is important?
VIRAL PACKAGING ACTIVITY
Rules:
Use the template to cut out the strip of 20 triangles.
With the tape, experiment on ways to use the 20 triangles to enclose the yarn and cotton balls.
You have 15 minutes to come up with a model.
How did you do?
VIRAL PACKAGING DISCUSSION: SHARE OUT
How did you do?
How was the experience?
Were there similar models?
Was there a process that you went through to get to the model that worked for your group?
VIRAL PACKAGING DISCUSSION
What shape did you form with your model? Why does that matter?
Majority of viruses form an icosahedron. Can you guess what that is? Helps viruses minimize surface area to volume ratio.
In fact, every cell in our body has 6 feet of DNA inside!
Did you know there’s a career that involves studying the shape of DNA? Can you guess what it is?
Who is Mariel Vázquez?
SIZE MATTERS DISCUSSION
What is the metric system?
What is the usefulness of the metric system when we talk about DNA?
What are the metric measurements?
Can you put the metric scale in order?
How many meters is each measurement?
SIZE MATTERS ACTIVITY
Your job is to guess the relative size of each item, ordering them from smallest to largest.
Did everyone have the same order? If not, explain your thinking.
What if we spaced the items based on the relative size, do we have enough space to do that?
What tools would be required to do work like this? What skills would be required?
CONTAMINATION DETECTIVES DISCUSSION
What does DNA have to do with detective work?
What skills are needed for detective work? What careers?
How do detectives use science?
CONTAMINATION DETECTIVES ACTIVITY
You’ll be working as contamination detectives to find germs around the room.
First, you’ll work in small groups to hypothesize which five areas are contaminated, jotting the locations on your handout and marking it with the yellow markers.
Second, you’ll use the UV light to shine the locations you selected to determine if you indeed have germs.
Did you match?
BUILD A BACTERIA DISCUSSION
What do we know about bacteria?
Where can bacteria be found?
Did you know bacteria is grouped based on shape? Which shapes do you think?
BUILD A BACTERIA DISCUSSION
The 5 Shapes of Bacteria
Cocci 🡪 round shape
Bacilli 🡪 rod shape
Vibrio 🡪 gently curved
Spirilla 🡪 spiral shape
Flagella 🡪 with tails
BUILD A BACTERIA ACTIVITY
Select a Build A Bacteria worksheet for your group
Pick the parts of your bacteria and follow the instructions on it:
Choose 1 blue card
Choose 1 purple card
Choose 1 orange card
Choose 1 green card
Choose 2 pink cards
What type of bacteria do you have? Is it helpful or harmful?