Making DNA model keychains is one of my favorite lessons to teach in Biology. These beautiful models make great keychains, ornaments, and jewelry. Students can treasure them, or gift them to someone special, making it the perfect activity to do before the winter and holiday break!
I hope this blog post gives you some ideas and saves you some time! Also check out my blog post How She Teaches DNA Model Keychains to read about my best lesson planning tips to facilitate this lesson! Keep reading here for more about:
- What students learn while making DNA keychain models
- Why I love teaching this lesson
- Materials
- Background Knowledge
- Appropriate Grade Level and Content Area
- Cost
- Challenges
What Students Learn While Making DNA Keychain Models
Students make a key, and work with materials that represent the components of DNA. They use the model to write a conclusion, and explain and describe DNA structure and how the molecule is put together.
Students learn the molecules in DNA like deoxyribose sugar, phosphate, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and adenine. Students can see how the nucleotides are put together to make a polymer. They practice making complementary base pairs by matching A-T, C-G.
Why I Love Teaching This Lesson
Creating these DNA keychain models is a valuable hands-on learning experience. Models help us visualize abstract concepts, like the microscopic structure of real DNA. We can even replicate it’s 3D, twisted ladder shape!
Developing and using models to represent ideas is one of the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. Not only are we making a beautiful piece of art, but we are practicing and applying real-life science skills.
This is a fun lesson for many students. It is engaging, creative, and generates discussion around DNA’s structure and components. Students make something they can keep forever. They can take it home and explain DNA to their families. It is often one of their favorite and most memorable lessons at the end of the year.
Materials
Buying materials in the right amounts is maybe the most challenging part of this activity for me. Estimating is a skill, and you will definitely put it to use here!
Each year I either have to make extra trips to the store to buy more supplies, or return unused beads because I purchased too many. If you do this activity year after year, you can reuse the extra beads from previous years, and that helps a lot with having the right amount.
The exact number of beads in each container is not specified, so there is some trial and error involved. Here are the materials each student will need:
- An arm’s length of 28G wire
- 18 gold round beads
- 18 silver round beads
- 5 red tube beads
- 5 yellow tube beads
- 4 blue tube beads
- 4 green tube beads
- 1 petri dish
- 1 piece of masking tape
- Sharpie to write their name and period
Background Knowledge
Before doing the keychain models, we study DNA for several weeks. We make several other models of DNA using paper cutouts, drawings, and plastic model kits. Lots of modeling helps students learn this very important molecule in our bodies!
Students know the components (deoxyribose, phosphate, and complementary base pairs of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine). They know the structure of DNA as a polymer, and that the monomer is a nucleotide. They know that DNA is a nucleic acid and contains genetic information. They know that DNA is a genetic code inside cells that builds our body and determines everything about us.
Appropriate Grade Level and Content Area
I usually do this lesson with my 9th grade Biology students towards the end of our unit on DNA. However, I think this makes a great activity for any secondary science class, and could be done anywhere in the curriculum. It fits into every science content area, whether that’s Life Science, Physical Sciences, or Earth Science because developing and using models to represent ideas is one of the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices.
I believe this as an appropriate activity starting as early as 7th grade. Even with 7th grade, this may be better as a choice project, for students to select and complete based on their own interests and motivations. Even high school students can struggle with this one, and some of the overall fun of the activity may diminish if half the class is fumbling with their beads, getting kinks in their wires, and experiencing irritation and frustration.
Cost
The biggest impediment in this activity is the cost. The beads are expensive, and with 5 classes of up to 35 students each, it is around $150. My science team budgeted around $35 of beads per section in our annual science department budget meetings.
It is expensive. You can always return the unopened containers of beads, so save your receipts! Also make sure you have this activity in your science budget, or get approval for reimbursement ahead of time so you’re not stuck with the bill!
Don’t forget to show your Teacher ID when you purchase the materials. Michael’s has a nice teacher discount. My favorite locally owned craft store also offered a teacher discount, so don’t forget to ask!
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges with this activity is frustration. This type of hands-on activity is not everyone’s cup of tea, and it can be frustrating for some students.
When students are working, I’m walking around constantly answering questions, straightening wires, and undoing steps to get them back on track. The first few steps are the hardest, but then students pick up on the repeated pattern and start having fun!
It’s funny, the brightest students who are very studious and get straight A’s, they are sometimes the ones who take the longest and struggle the most with this activity. It’s fun to see other types of students and personalities excel at this activity.
Like with many assignments and activities, students finish their models at different rates. Students write a conclusion paragraph when they’re done, which turns into homework for anyone who needs more time. Those who finish early can also help their classmates finish their models.
Another big challenge is estimating correctly the amount of materials needed, as I mentioned above.
Enjoy the Experience and the Beautiful DNA Jewel Keychains!
This is one of my all time favorite lessons to do, despite the challenges, cost, and the extra prep work of going to the craft store.
At the end of our DNA unit it’s really fun to apply what we learned, and create something beautiful. It is a memorable lesson for myself and for my students. It’s one of those lessons that has students saying, “I love science class!” And, “We always do fun things in science class!” I’m excited for you to try this lesson with your students. I guarantee they will love it!
If you have any questions about this lesson, leave a comment. What are some of your favorite lessons to do around the holidays? Let me know by leaving a comment, I would love to hear from you!
Check out my blog post How She Teaches DNA Model Keychains to read my lesson planning tips for this lesson. To read more about me and my classroom, check out some of the blog posts below!
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