Activities for Mitosis, Cell Cycle, and Cancer: 

Ⓛ: Candy Chromosomes (👭 max 2)

Grab some jelly beans (or some of those stringy-sour long candies). Using different colors to represent different chromosomes, guide us through an explanation of meiosis. Follow the directions on each slide and take photos of your candy chromosomes, then submit all your photos in one Google Doc/Slideshow. Make sure you clearly show: homologous pairs, sister chromatids, diploid, haploid, and all the differences between meiosis I and meiosis II, and the end result of all of meiosis.

Ⓛ (recommended): Mitotic Index Lab (👭 max 2)

Grab a microscope and a prepared slide of onion root tip. Follow the directions on this slide to begin calculating the mitotic index of your onion root. You and your partner should fill in ONE ROW on this spreadsheet. Go here if you need additional directions on how to do this.

Ӕ (Recommended): The Inner Workings of a Nucleus, Visualized in Real Time (💁/ 👭max 2)

Drew Berry is a visual design artist that decided to make the most visually accurate animations of cell processes that we have to date. His TED Talk presents some of the key parts of these animations. Watch his Talk (from 4:42 – 9:00 for the key parts), then mute Mr. Berry, and screencast a recording of your own voice explaining the details on screen. Be sure to include the key terms and vocab from 3.2 and 1.6.

📄 (Old School Worksheet): Mitotic Index and Cancer (💁)

Take a look at some actual human tissue samples. Are they potentially cancerous, or do they appear healthy? This is one of the ways we diagnose cancers — simply obtain a tissue sample (from a biopsy), put it under the microscope, and calculate the mitotic index. Complete the worksheet and the questions to show you can do this basic diagnosis on your own. 

ⓟ/ⓦ (+NOS): “Smoking Kills…Or Does It?” Explore The mindset of a 1960s smoker (💁/ 👭max 3)

By the late 1940s, around 80% of men and 40% of women in developed countries were smokers. It sounds crazy today, but they didn’t know it was bad for your health. The tobacco industry launched a very effective “correlation is not causation” publicity campaign. Most of the public bought it, and it wasn’t until the 1990s that the majority of people began accepting that smoking was actually harmful to your health. As a debate or podcast group, watch the clip and discuss: What is the role of an epidemiologist in public health? How much freedom should companies have to keep their own studies private? 

Ⓛ (analysis): Use epidemiological data to show the link between smoking and lung cancer (💁)

Continue fine-tuning your lab skills – this time focusing on the analysis side of things. Take this actual data from the UK comparing smoking rates by profession and rates of lung cancer, and present it in a graph. Answer the 4 questions in the document, then submit all work to G.Classroom – this should include all the work you use — spreadsheets, graphs, and answers to all questions. (This should take about 1 hour to complete.)

ⓡ: Read and Respond: The Miracle Woman (💁)

When Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cancer in 1952, doctors took some of her cancerous cells and cultured them. Those cells have been used in research throughout the world, and led to major breakthroughs. Read about her story and respond: 1) What makes cancer cells (like HeLa cells) different from normal ones; 2) Why those properties make HeLa cells so useful to research; and 3) What you think “consent” means in the age of scientific research.

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Additional Activities for Meiosis:

Ӕ: The Academy: Meiosis (💁)

Create a Khan Academy-style video that explains meiosis (go here for inspiration). Carefully explain the steps of meiosis I AND meiosis II, ensuring to accurately use and explain the following terms: homologous chromosomes, sister chromatids, tetrad, independent assortment, Law of Segregation, crossing over, chiasma, diploid, haploid, and variation.    

ⓟ/ⓦ: My Grandmother was Italian. Why Aren’t My Genes Italian? (💁/ 👫 max 4 [podcast only])

Most people know that we each have 50% of our genes from mom, and 50% from dad. However, many are surprised to learn that we typically do NOT have 25% of our genes from each grandparent. Read this story about one woman’s ancestry test results, and discuss: 1) Why is it that we each have exactly 50% of our genes from mom and dad?;  2) Why is it that we do NOT typically have 25% from each grandparent?;  3) What is happening during meiosis throughout subsequent generations?; and 4) Do you suspect you might have more of grandma’s/grandpa’s genes, and why? 

ⓟ/ⓦ: The War Inside Your Egg Cells (💁/ 👫 max 4 [podcast only])

It’s weird to think about it, but research consistently shows that our own genes are in competition with each other — each one “wants” to be the one that gets selected for sex. How does this take place in egg cells? Watch the video, and discuss: 

  1) Why would genes need to compete in the first place?; 

  2) What are centromeres and spindle fibers, and what is their role in cell division?;  

 3) What is a polar body (found only in egg cells), and how does it give genes an opportunity to “cheat” during meiosis?; and 

 4) What is meant by the term “selfish gene”?

ⓡ: Practice With Data: Why Sex is Good…But Not Always (💁)

Read through this article about sex. There are at least 20 different suggestions as to how/why sex evolved, and all of them might be correct in some way. But it isn’t always as advantageous as it might seem. Read through the article and complete the questions as you go – submit the answers to G. Classroom. 

ⓡ: When Meiosis Goes Wrong: The Molecular Guardians that Monitor Chromosomes (💁)

From the article: One of the worst things that can happen to a cell is to end up with the wrong number of chromosomes. This can happen if something goes wrong during cell division, and it can lead to infertility, miscarriages, birth defects, or cancer.  Read the article, and write a response to the following: 1) What is genetic recombination?;  2) Why is it so error-prone?;  3) How does the body monitor errors in recombination?;  and 4) How is all of this an example of nature protecting both parents and offspring?

ⓟ: They’re Twins?! (💁/ 👫 max 4)

These two ladies made headlines for a very simple reason: They are twins (fraternal), but they don’t look like it. Using your newfound knowledge of meiosis, explain how it is possible for two twins to look so different, but still be twins. Be sure to use as much relevant vocab as possible, including: The Principle of Independent assortment, The Law of Segregation, diploid, haploid, homologous chromosomes, crossing over, etc.

ⓡ: Why Sex? Biologists Find New Explanations (💁)

One of the foundational principles of biology is that sex is good because it leads to variation, which is essential for life. But as with many things in science, a closer look leads to even more questions. Read this article about the evolution of sex, and discuss: 1) How could meiosis be beneficial to an individual (and not just the individual’s future offspring)?;  2) How can environmental factors influence sex in various organisms?;  3) What is the connection is between sex and DNA repair?;  and 4) Do you think biology class is over-simplifying the role of sex in evolution/variation? Why or why not?

Extras:

• Phases of Meiosis cutout activity
• Sorting out Mitosis from Meiosis activity (and template)
• Worksheet to practice using 3D software to visualize nucleosomes
• Old-School worksheet to make notes for this level
• Viewing nucleosomes in JMOL
• Cytokinesis practice/review
• Puzzle: The Mitosis Card Deck (sorting) with directions
• Extra: A (big) role-playing project to act out meiosis
• Extra: Reviewing Meiosis
• Extra: Practice Drawing the Phases of Meiosis