Genes for Genes Week: Investigating DNA
This week, as part of Genes for Genes Week, Class 4 have been learning about genetic conditions that affect people through our whole-school worship. We explored the important role of DNA, which can be thought of as the set of instructions used to build all living things.
To help us understand this idea, we used a LEGO model analogy. Just as a small change in a set of building instructions can result in a very different final model, small differences in DNA can lead to significant changes in how living things develop and function.
Although DNA is far too small to be seen with the naked eye, it is present in every cell of our bodies. make this more real, we aimed to extract DNA from strawberry cells. Wearing appropriate eye protection, we carefully used a range of simple chemicals to break down the cells. As DNA is such a long molecule, it then clumps together into small white lumps so that we could see and extract it for ourselves. It was exciting to observe something that is normally invisible!
Alongside our scientific learning, we focused on developing our measuring skills. We practised using a variety of scientific measuring equipment accurately, including syringes, pipettes, measuring cups and flasks. We quickly discovered that precision is vital in science: the more carefully we measured each ingredient, the more successful our DNA extraction was.
Take a look at our gallery below. It’s not easy to see in a photograph, but the small white lines in the picture of the cup are lumps of pure strawberry DNA!!
-
- Those little white strands are DNA!!
