Education Technology


Biology: NASA - Space Bugs

by NASA and TI - Simulation Lesson

Objectives

Students will:

  • analyze the nucleotide composition of DNA;
  • evaluate restriction maps of bacterial plasmids;
  • analyze models of DNA gel electrophoresis; and
  • predict the sizes of unknown DNA fragments by comparing them to known fragment sizes.

About the Lesson

In this activity, students are asked to analyze the basic composition of DNA. They will then look at how DNA is "cut up" with special molecular scissors (called restriction enzymes), so it can be analyzed. Finally, they will observe and evaluate the results of some simulated DNA gel electrophoresis trials.