Cell and Molecular Biology for high school LaPaz Home Learning

As a former biology major and major science geek, I have to say, I am pretty excited about this course.? Though admittedly cell and molec are not the most attractive of the biological science disciplines to me (we?ve done the fun stuff already), they are pretty important and I?m going to make them as much fun as I can for him. And for Sam, that means making it as hands-on as possible. And therein lies the challenge. How does a homeschooling mom make cell and molec hands-on, without the benefit of a super-expensive molecular bio lab? It?s not easy, but it can be done. Here is my plan.

(Sam?s model of a glucose molecule)

First off, the texts, which we are keeping bare-bones, just the facts. We will be using sections of this book: The Biology Coloring Workbook put out by Princeton Review, completing only the sections that pertain to cell and molec. We will be supplementing with info from Campbell?s Biology which will be used mainly as a reference. This minimalistic approach will be enhanced and expanded by lots of experiments and activities.

Here are some we have planned, sorted by topic, not necessarily in the order we will do them:

Basic molecules of life: Resurrecting our good old styrofoam atoms kit Sam made in 5th grade and putting it to use building some organic molecules (see above photo). I wish I had a better kit, but since I knew we would be breezing through this section rather quickly, I didn?t feel the need to invest. I may re-think that later if the need arises.

The Cell: we will be making some slides and looking at cheek cells, onion cells, and elodea cells, plus we have some prepared slides to look at. We will also be doing the classic ?make a cell model from edible stuff? experiment, which is always fun and tasty. (Google it and I?m sure you?ll find plenty of examples. The idea, though, is to let your student come up with the ingredients he thinks best represent each organelle/structure, rather than providing a pre-determined recipe.That way it involves a little more thought and creativity from your student.)

Cellular Respiration: we have this metabolism experiment kit which includes 2 nifty metabolic chambers into which you can place small critters (such as crickets or worms) and measure their metabolic rates, comparing different variables (such as temp, size, etc). Should be super-cool. Also doing the classic ?breath into water until you nearly pass out and measure the pH? experiment.

Osmosis and diffusion: I have several cheap and easy experiments in mind for this. One involves soaking Elodea leaves in various solutions to watch the cells expand/contract (under a microscope you can see the individual cells pretty well with Elodea), another involves doing similar experiments using dialysis tubing (a selectively permeable membrane).

Photosynthesis:Seeing as we will be in the depths of a very dark winter here, I think we may be calling on our old friend Elodea again to do some indoors experiments with photosynthesis. Perhaps a study of the effects of light, temp, fertilizer, etc on photosynthesis rate? So many variables, so little time. We also have some prepared slides of algae in which the chloroplasts are readily visible with a microscope. Spirogyra is great for that.

Mitosis and Meiosis: This is best learned using a working model.I really like using various bits of chenille stem (different colors and lengths) to represent the chromosomes. Twist them together or use? pony beads for centromeres if you like, which makes them come apart nicely. You can also use several stems formed into a circle to represent the cell membrane. Easy to pinch together and then separate at the right stages.

Mendelian Genetics: Ah?the good old Punnet square!? Don?t want to come up with them yourself? Lots of good practice problems here.? Also, we will be doing the classic ABO-rH blood-typing lab. I think we have some leftover fake blood and antisera from years ago. If not, I?ll re-order this kit.

DNA structure: make a model, of course. Use candy, pop beads,? pony beads,? pasta, styrofoam balls, whatever. (I?m kind of intrigued by this origami version myself. Looks like a challenge!) You can even build a virtual one here.

Replication, transcription and translation: Hopefully, if we?ve made our DNA model functional enough, we should be able to use it to demonstrate DNA replication, transcription and translation by just adding a few more components.I?m thinking that pop beads hold the most potential for this, but I am still exploring possibilities. We should also be able to adapt our model to prokaryotic DNA replication without much hassle.

DNA extraction: There a bunch of experiments out there for extracting DNA from various things from bananas to strawberries to split peas and chicken livers. (I like that one-clear and concise.)? We will choose one and go for it. There is also this virtual DNA extraction lab which might be fun to try.

DNA Fingerprinting: we will be using this electrophoresis kit which contains everything you need to run some gels and compare DNA samples using techniques similar to those used in real genetics labs. I can?t wait for this one! So cool!

Population Genetics and Evolution: This is still in the works (no pun intended! LOL!) I am in the process of designing a few labs to quickly, easily, and cheaply demonstrate the main principles of evolution: mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, adaptation and speciation amongst other concepts, but will need a bit more time to polish them. I will share when I get them done.

That?s all I can think of right now, but I will certainly be updating this list as we progress and inspiration strikes. We will definitely be using YouTube to find animations and such to supplement our readings and activities (like this one on mitosis).

DVD?s: we will be watching whatever DVD?s we can find to compliment our studies. I?ll try to get a list together soon.

Hope this helps someone!

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Source: http://lapazfarm.homeschooljournal.net/2012/09/24/cell-and-molecular-biology-for-high-school/

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