Mitosis & Meiosis

To learn about Mitosis and Meiosis in animal and plant cells we looked at the different stages of  onion root and worm cells under the microscope. The different stages are Interphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telephase. The difference between animal and plant cells is animal cells also undergo Cytokinesis. We had to find all the stages under the microscope and draw it out on paper, which was also very helpful to fully understand the differences.
There are several similarities and differences between mitosis and meiosis. The main difference between is their type of reproduction. Meiosis is sexual whereas mitosis is asexual. Mitosis occurs in all organisms and meiosis only occurs in humans, animals, plants, and fungi.
I thought this activity was very helpful and was the best way to learn about the different stages of mitosis. 

DNA discovery, structure and replication

To represent DNA, Dr. Lowe gave us Twizzlers, Jelly beans, and toothpicks to make a strip of DNA. My partner and I put 2 different colors of jelly beans on a toothpick and 2 different colors on another toothpick. We did this with 7 toothpicks, but keeping the 2 colors with each other, but changing the order(picture below).
We then took the toothpicks and broke them in half, now my partner and I having half of the DNA strip. Using the same color pattern we replicated the DNA, finishing it off by adding another Twizzler to the end of the toothpicks. 
This was a great way to represent DNA as a hands on project. For me, it is hard to visualize tiny things like cells or DNA, but using things that I can see and touch is very helpful. I would definitely use this in my classroom one day.

Chain Factory

As a class we were given a description of a factory and we were each given different roles to play inside the factory. It was confusing at first, but after we broke apart each of the roles it made much more sense. Once we were all "acting" out our different roles it was pretty chaotic at first, but we all started getting in a flow and everything was moving smoothly and pretty quickly. I was the custodian and my job was to pick up all of the energy units each of the people would use. I was constantly walking around finding energy units which represents how much energy the cell actually uses. I represented the lysosomes in the cell.

This activity really helped me understand the concepts of how the cell works. It made it much easier for me to picture the activity in the cell as appose to just talking about what the cell does. I also think this would be very helpful for young students that are learning about the cell because it puts it in different context which is helpful sometimes.

It also amazed me that we learned about all the different parts of the cell in under 2 hours because I remember learning about the cell in 7th grade and we spend weeks learning about it. I would definitely use this analogy in my classroom.