UNIT LESSON PLAN #1: DNA & RNA

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION - FORMATIVE

�    Have students complete lesson Worksheet #1 before they leave for the day and inform them that they will not be graded on it.  Have them give it you before they leave along with their Venn diagram exercise.

�    Tell students they should also complete Worksheets #2-4 as part of their homework assignment and to include them in their notes as they will be tested on them in the near future.  The answers to the worksheets will be covered at the beginning of next class.


ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION - SUMMATIVE

�  Students will choose one of the following topics and will write up and prepare a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation to present to their classmates. (Worth 5% of final grade of the year)
1. Discuss how the work of Griffith, Avery, Hershey, and Chase demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material.
2. What is meant by Transformation in Molecular Biology and Genetics?  What do we mean when we say that transformation is the change in genotype and phenotype due to the assimilation of the external DNA by a cell.
3. Discuss the fining of Chargaff and describe the importance of the finding that in DNA, the amount of adenine and thymine are about the same and the amount of guanine and cytosine are about the same, and how this led to the base pairing rules.
4. Explain Watson and Crick�s double helix model of DNA.
5. Describe how DNA is replicated and explain the importance of the fact that during DNA replication, each strand serves as a template to make a complementary DNA strand.
6. Describe the structure and function of RNA.
7. Discuss the role of the three types of RNA: mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA.

�  One Unit Lesson Test (Unit Test � DNA & RNA) will be given following the unit lesson plans.  Students will be informed that the test will cover their in-class discussion and notes during the lessons of the unit, in-class activities and worksheets, as well as their homework reading assignments.  (10% of final grade of the year)

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