Testing Week Oct 26- Oct 30

This week was an unusual week.  Our students were with me only one day this week (Monday through Thursday) to start our interdisciplinary project of the Great Migration. Students watched a video about The First Lady Michelle Obama and how her DNA was used to determine her genealogy.   Michelle Obama's Genealogy 
Here is a link to the powerpoint used in class:  DNA fingerprint How To

We then performed a DNA fingerprinting lab just as they do in real research labs (the only difference is we used simulated DNA).  Each student compared their chosen DNA sample with that of DNA from different southern states.  Southern states were used becuase during the Great Migration, these are where most people emigrated from to cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, and New York.   Students pour gels, prepared gel electrophoresis equipment, loaded DNA using pippettors, ran the DNA and interrupted the DNA data.  Students then applied this new knowledge to that also used in Paternaity testing (from Maury and Jerry Springer shows), Disease detection, designer babies, and the controversy of who own DNA.  Some of the links are found below for the Paper submitted for the lab as well as application activity completed during the lab.

paternity test activity
DNA Fingerprinting Lab

During the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday, students completed a virtual lab on Gel electrophoresis to help student understand the process of the lab:  We only completed pages 1 and 2.  The top of the page explain which web site to go to to complete this assignment.  Gel Electrophoresis Virtual Lab