The Extreme Biotechnology in the Classroom workshop was presented for
K-12 educators December 10-11, 1999 at Ruidoso High School, Ruidoso, NM.
The workshop was developed for 7th-12th grade sciene educators to present
new and fun information on extremophiles, extremozymes, and recombinant DNA
technologies, how this information correlates with the state and national
science standards and benchmarks, how this information links to related topics
in textbooks, and how to use the Internet as a research tool for teachers
and students.
Participants of the workshop had the following comments:
"This was very interesting. I'd like to learn more!"
"Great to have new ways of teaching this subject matter."
"Great to be able to talk to other teachers interested in this field. It
makes my creative ideas flow and I realize I am not alone out there!"
Extreme
Environments on Earth: Analogs for Exobiology (UW) - This is actually a
recruiting tool for the Astrobiology department at the University of
Washington, but it has some very good information on how the study of life
in extreme environments on earth can aid in the search for extraterrestrial
life.
Extremophiles (Scientific American) - A very good general article on
extremophiles.
The Genetic
Code (Access Excellence) - Tables of the genetic code and the three letter
codes for amino acids.
The Internet (Whatis.com) -
A brief description and history of the Internet with links to the definitions
of many related terms.
Kary B.
Mullis (Access Excellence) - A brief history of the inventor of the
Polymerase Chain Reaction.
Life Beyond Boiling (Discover) - An article from discover about research on
thermophiles.
Make
Your Own Laboratory Equipment (The Natural History of Genes) - Complete
instruction for constructing your own electrophoresis gel box.
Microbiology
401 Class Notes: Chapter 8: Temperature, Pressure and pH (Penn State)
- Background information on the effects of temperature, pressure and pH on
the growth of microorganisms and how extremophiles manage their extreme natural
environments. Includes a section on barophiles.
Thermophilic Microorganisms (The University of Edinburgh) - A detailed
chapter mainly covering thermophiles. It also includes an introduction
defining psychrophiles, mesophiles, thermophiles and hyperthermophiles, and
links to related resources.
Biotech
Education: DNA (Univ. of Wisconsin) - A graphic illustration of a simple
experiment to determine whether or not a substance in DNA.
DNA
Dance: An Activity to Demonstrate DNA (Univ. of Wisconsin) - A fun
interactive classroom activity to demonstrate some of the structural features
and functions of DNA.
The
Hot Water Vent (Scholastic's Magic School Bus (Microsoft)) - A teacher's
guide for a classroom activity about deep sea vents.
How
do Proteins Work? (Genetic Science Learning Center) - A set of experiments
observing the action of proteases in pineapple on gelatin.
PCR - Frying
Pan (Share 105) - A procedure for performing the polymerase chain reaction
without an expensive thermal cycler.
Spooling the Stuff of Life (Scientific American) - A DNA isolation
experiment using equipment from any kitchen.
Teaching Molecular Genetics Using Paper DNA Sequences (Loomis Chaffee High
School) - Several classroom activities to teach different aspects of molecular
genetics and recombinant DNA techniques using paper models. Download it from
http://science.loomis.org/Science_dept/downloads.html.
Journal References
In Industry, Extremophiles Begin to Make Their Mark, E. Pennisi,
Science, May 2, 1997, 276 p. 705.