Advice on experiments and activities
The work sheets for the experiments and activities in this resource are written as printable handout sheets of instructions and information for students.
Each sheet for practical activities contains all the details of equipment and method for the experiment and guidance questions for analysis of results.
Each sheet for an individual, group or class activity provides full instructions to the students on the learning strategy involved. Discussion questions and analysis strategies are also provided.
It is expected that there will be interaction between the teacher and students in all of these activities. The following notes are provided to help the teacher to maximise the smooth running of the activity and the learning that occurs.
The teacher notes also provide further background information and extra class discussion points than those found on the student work sheets.
Many of the activities include group or class discussions. This may not be possible or appropriate in some situations. However, most of these activities can be adapted so that students working alone can complete the exercise.
Experiments
Activities which include practical work are:
Natural antibiotics
Extracting DNA in your kitchen
Plant tissue culture in the classroom
Oil-eating bacteria
Using biotechnology to make yoghurt
All the equipment and reagents needed for each experiment are listed on the student work sheets. Information on any special care that is needed with reactants or with the experimental method is in the Teacher notes accompanying each work sheet.
No experiment has been provided on electrophoresis. There are various kits available with instructions for experiments ranging from an illustration of the process using dyes, through an experiment using pre-digested DNA, to one involving selection and testing of different restriction enzymes to cut the DNA. These kits are available through a number of suppliers, such as Southern Biological: http://www.southernbiological.com telephone (03) 9877 4597; fax (03) 9894 2309; email enquiries@southernbiological.com
There are also a number of institutions that provide classes and demonstrations to students in school or at their own facilities. CSIRO Education Centres in each State and Territory provide gene technology workshops, with hands-on experience in techniques including electrophoresis. Contact details for the education centres can be found at: http://www.csiro.au/resources/exploreandeducate.html
Activities
Many of the activities are written around existing internet resources. If access to the internet is unreliable, slow or limited for students in your school you may need to work with your IT technician to cache some pages on your school intranet before undertaking some of these activities.
The Teacher notes on all the activities indicate whether internet access is required, and describe how students can use the information they find in the internet resources suggested.