DNA and genetics are intriguing phenomena in science. It seems mysterious and almost magical to students, which inspires their curiosity and desire to learn more. That makes it fun and easy to teach! DNA is also fun to teach because we get to do lots of modeling and hands-on activities.
The purpose of this lesson is to explain DNA. It will give students a broad overview of DNA and its structure, components, and function. Students practice listening skills and take notes. I explain and describe in more detail the components of DNA and its structure.
The learning goal of the lesson is that students will be able to identify the components of DNA by listening to a lecture, writing notes, and taking a Check-in.
This lesson follows my introductory lesson to DNA. Check out my blog post Engaging DNA Introduction: Twin Study Film Clip & Discussion to read more about that. In this blog post I share my tips to teach DNA and introduce it’s structure, components, and function:
- Class discussion: What is DNA?
- DNA lecture
- DNA Note Outline
- DNA Check-in
- Resources in Google Drive to teach this lesson
- What’s next in learning about DNA?
Class Discussion: What is DNA?
One of my go-to classroom routines are Class Discussions. I love to introduce a topic in a conversational way with explanations and examples. I ask a few questions (to make sure everyone is still awake…just kidding!) and I love the curiosity it brings forth in my students. I write myself a little teacher script to review prior knowledge and set the stage for new learning. My goal is to connect the dots for my students in a way that that flows and feels like a story:
DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). Let’s try to say it…
First we learn about DNA and it’s structure, the actual molecule. What’s in it? What does it look like? How is it put together? We want to know the molecule really well.
What does DNA do? DNA carries information. What does the information do? It identifies you, because it’s a unique code for each person. DNA is like directions for the cell. What do the directions do? It tells the cell what its job is, and what to do: be a red blood cell, white blood cell…DNA tells cells what to do/make. Protein is what our bodies are made of. So the DNA tells how to build proteins to make a unique thing.
Chemically, DNA is a nucleic acid. It is a long, twisted, double stranded structure. What does double stranded mean? It has two sides of molecules, like a ladder, and they attach in the middle.
DNA is a REALLY long, big molecule. It’s twisted. If you curl your hair, like with a curling iron, does it get shorter or longer? Shorter. By twisting, it makes it more compact. When stretched out, DNA is 6 feet long!
Nucleotides make up the DNA strands, and they have three parts. A sugar called deoxyribose, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. DNA is a very simple, very repetitive molecule.
The nitrogenous bases bind specifically and are called complementary. The bases are like lock and key shapes, they fit together. Only the right base pairs can go together in DNA:
Adenine (A) always pairs with Thymine (T)
Cytosine (C) always pairs with Guanine (G)
DNA Lecture
I enjoy delivering lectures that are short and sweet. This DNA lecture takes about 20 minutes. I just read the information from the slides. I add in extra details, anecdotes, ask questions, and provide context. This makes the lecture interesting, and gives students more time to copy the information. When it looks like students are done writing, I can go on to the next slide.
DNA Note Outline
Students take notes while I present. They take notes in their notebook, on binder paper, or I give them a Note Outline.
Note Outlines are one of my favorite note taking styles. They save class time because students don’t need to write everything down. Note Outlines take a little extra time to prep, but they are easy to make. I just cut and paste the text from the presentation into a Google Doc. Then I delete some of the wording and add an underline so students know what to fill in.
DNA Check-in
Students take a Check-in to check for understanding. Check out my blog posts How I Use “Check-ins” to Check for Understanding and Inform My Teaching. Also, read 8 Classroom Routines & My Go-To Lesson Structure for Better Classroom Management. These posts will help you learn more about this important routine in my classroom.
Resources in Google Drive to Teach this Lesson
Check out my DNA folder in Google Drive. Make a copy of the slides, notes, and Check-in, and tweak them to your needs.
Google Drive > How She Teaches > DNA
What’s Next in Learning about DNA?
This lesson gives students the foundation knowledge they need to make their first model of DNA’s structure. Lots of modeling helps us understand the molecule. Students will apply what they learned in the lecture by drawing the DNA molecular structure. They create a key, label the parts, and add color.
This is the first of many models we make to represent and visualize DNA. Modeling is an important way to represent ideas, especially those that are abstract. It is a real-life science skill.
We want to know the molecule really well. We build on our understanding of DNA when we study protein synthesis and genetics later in the year.
Make it Your Own!
In college when I studied Biology, Genetics and Molecular Biology were two of my toughest subjects. They were so abstract and I didn’t really grasp the intricate details. After teaching Genetics and DNA, I fell in love with the science. Now they are some of my favorite topics to learn and teach about. My dreams came true when a student of mine told me he was fascinated with what we learned. He wanted to become a Geneticist!
DNA is one of my favorite units to teach in Biology. It’s a really interesting topic. It’s exciting to teach something where new scientific discoveries and developments are happening in real-time, like gene therapy and CRISPR.
I encourage you to take these ideas and tweak them to your teaching style and needs. Put your own special twist on it. One of the funnest parts of teaching to me is the creativity. It’s a big reason why I love to do what I do. I love to feel inspired and create interesting and engaging lessons for my students.
I hope the ideas in this blog post give you a good starting point. I also hope they save you some valuable time and stress! Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment. I would love to hear from you! What is your favorite part of teaching DNA?
To read more lesson ideas and teaching tips, check out my blog and the blog posts below!
https://howsheteaches.com/2022/11/26/how-she-teaches-what-is-a-system/