DNA

DETECTIVES

A Webquest for 7^th Grade Life Science

Conclusion Teacher notes Resources and Credits

Do you like to take long walks on the beach? Have you ever seen a starfish? Did you ever wonder why all starfish look the same? Where do starfish come from? We will try to answer some of those questions in the following activity. You have spent the last few weeks learning all about cells, the different types, the organelles, and the process of cell division and the role of DNA. Let’s put that knowledge to the test and see if you can’t pull it all together to solve the mystery of the starfish origin.

Task:

Your task is to become a group of research scientists and detectives who determine the origin of a population of starfish using your knowledge of mitosis, meiosis, DNA sequencing, asexual and sexual reproduction. The results of your research will be published in a power point presentation.

Process:

In order to determine the origin of your starfish, each member of your team will have to become an expert in a certain scientific field. Your team will need:

v A Molecular Biologists who specialize in mitosis

v A Molecular Biologists who specialize in meiosis

v A Marine Biologist

v A Geneticists

v All team members must have an understanding of DNA sequencing and asexual and sexual reproduction.

Some would find this task overwhelming, but understanding how these starfish come in to being will help you understand where you come from and why each of us is a unique individual. In order to have success, you must:

√ Work as a team

√ Give 100%

√ Research, summarize and problem solve

Instructions:

1. Meet with your team and choose your roles: Mitosis specialist, Meiosis specialists, Geneticist and Marine Biologists.

2. As a team, review the rubric for the assignment, before you begin.

3. Once you have assigned the roles on your team, each member should click on their individual roles and read the contents to understand the individual task.

4. Start with the DNA sequencing and reproduction sites, and then move on to your individual research using the worksheets provided to gather the necessary information.

5. Once everyone in your group is done with their research, meet as a group to review the information.

6. Check in with your teacher before collecting your starfish.

7. Proceed to the aquarium and have each member of the team select two starfish.

8. Using the DNA sequence on your starfish, as a group, determine the following: How many starfish have the same genetic makeup? How many starfish have a different genetic make up? How many of your starfish are a product of asexual reproduction and how many are a product of sexual reproduction? Could there be any offspring in your sampling of starfish?

9. Using the answers to these questions, determine the following: what percentage of your population of starfish used mitosis for cell division and what percentage of your population went through meiosis for cell division. How does understanding mitosis and meiosis help you understand the DNA sequencing in starfish? Click here for a guided worksheet.

10. Using all of the information you have gathered, create a power point presentation. It is very important that each group member participates in the creation of the power point presentation. The worksheets are designed to help you produce your power point presentations. The number of slides in your presentation is up to your group, but you should have a minimum of 8, and maximum of 12. The power point presentation should include the following:

1. Title page with the names of group members.

2. Brief summary of mitosis and meiosis.

3. Brief summary of DNA and DNA sequencing.

4. Brief comparison of asexual and sexual reproduction.

5. Information about starfish.

6. Results and conclusions from Starfish survey. It can be in graph, table or chart form.

7. Click here for a PowerPoint storyboard.

11. Submit power point presentation to Teacher (place in Life Science folder)

Evaluation:

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Title page	All requirements are met and exceeded. Unique title and all group members are listed	All requirements are met. Good title and all group members are listed	One requirement was not completely met.	More than one requirement was not completely met.
Summary of mitosis and meiosis	Includes 3-8 Sentence summary of each topic, includes end result of each process and number of stages	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Summary of DNA and DNA sequencing	Includes all factual information with details and example. Subject knowledge is excellent	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
A comparison of asexual and sexual reproduction	Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Information on starfish Asterias vulgaris	Habitat, appearance, feeding requirements and reproduction are all listed Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
starfish survey	Answers to all the questions from instructions and a graph, table or chart explaining results.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good. No graph, table or chart	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Mechanics	No misspellings or grammatical errors.	Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors.	Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar.
Attractiveness	Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.	Makes good use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance to presentation.	Makes use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. but occasionally these detract from the presentation content.	Use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. but these often distract from the presentation content.
Organization	Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material.	Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.	Content is logically organized for the most part.	There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.

For a printable copy of this rubric click here.

Conclusion:

Congratulations! You have become a scientist. You have solved the mystery of why starfish look alike and how they come into being. You have a clear understanding of mitosis, meiosis and can read a DNA sequence. You have done some research, summarized information; problem solved and created a wonderful presentation. You also have some insight as to what it would be like to be molecular scientist, marine biologist or geneticists.

Teacher notes

To complete the above Webquest the students should have completed a unit on the Cell, its parts, processes and the structure and function of DNA. In order to do this Webquest you will need a minimum of five computer stations, although it would be best to have 25 computer workstations. The power point presentation can be changed to fit the needs of any student. It can be replaced with a poster, pamphlet, oral presentation or paper. A template for the starfish can be seen here.

Standards:

Guiding Principles:

1. Science and technology are integrally related to mathematics.

2. Investigation, experimentation, and problem solving are central to science education

3. Students learn best in an environment that conveys high academic expectations for all students.

4. An effective program in science gives students opportunities to collaborate in scientific endeavors and communicate their ideas.

Learning Standards:

1. Recognize that all organisms are composed of cells, and one cell must carry out all of the basic functions of life.

2. Recognize that every organism requires a set of instructions that specifies its traits. These instructions are stored in the organism’s chromosomes. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another.

3. Recognize that hereditary information is contained in genes located in the chromosomes of each cell.

4. Compare sexual reproduction (offspring inherit half of their genes from each parent) with asexual reproduction (offspring is an identical copy of the parent’s cell).

Resources

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/genome/

http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa090700

http://www.biology.arizona.edu/the_biology_project/the_biology_project.html

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/GG/mitosis2.html

http://www.cellsalive.com/mitosis.htm

http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/salmon/lab/mitosis/mitosis.html

http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/bs110/meiosis.htm

http://www.accessexcellence.org./

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/asterias/a._vulgaris$narrative.html#geographic_range

http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesRECNUM.asp?recNum=SC0070

http://www.crosswinds.net/~seve/page17.html

http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/basics/tour/

http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/15/concept/index.html