Great, short, engaging videos to explain all things about our awesome planet! There are tons of great animal videos here.
These videos can answer a lot of the "wonders" students have.

One strand of the DNA is used as a template to create an mRNA copy. This process is called transcription. An mRNA copy needs to be made because DNA cannot leave the nucleus. Protein complexes separate the DNA helix to allow complementary mRNA nucleotides to bind to the DNA sequence. The pairing of nucleotides is very specific. Use the A, U, G and C buttons to place the correct mRNA nucleotide with each DNA nucleotide.

Students will breed fruit flies through several generations and record their data using mathematical models in order to demonstrate the inheritance of trait variations.

Students perform an activity similar to the childhood “telephone” game in which each communication step represents a biological process related to the passage of DNA from one cell to another. This game tangibly illustrates how DNA mutations can happen over several cell generations and the effects the mutations can have on the proteins that cells need to produce. Next, students use the results from the “telephone” game (normal, substitution, deletion or insertion) to test how the mutation affects the survivability of an organism in the wild. Through simple enactments, students act as “predators” and “eat” (remove) the organism from the environment, demonstrating natural selection based on mutation.

Students learn about mutations to both DNA and chromosomes, and uncontrolled changes to the genetic code. They are introduced to small-scale mutations (substitutions, deletions and insertions) and large-scale mutations (deletion duplications, inversions, insertions, translocations and nondisjunctions). The effects of different mutations are studied as well as environmental factors that may increase the likelihood of mutations. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post-assessments are provided.

Mutations are mistakes in the DNA sequence. Use the Edit DNA button to change the entire sequence or click on an individual nucleotide to make an insertion, deletion or substitution mutation. How does changing the DNA sequence change the resulting protein? You can quickly jump between the DNA sequence and final protein by using the Show DNA and Show protein buttons. Are some types of mutations more damaging than others?

Did you ever imagine that you can use light to move a microscopic plastic bead? Explore the forces on the bead or slow time to see the interaction with the laser's electric field. Use the optical tweezers to manipulate a single strand of DNA and explore the physics of tiny molecular motors. Can you get the DNA completely straight or stop the molecular motor?

The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The Innocence Project's mission is to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.

This simulation provides an opportunity to practice a restriction digest in a virtual lab setting. Restriction enzymes are used to cut the DNA strands of two plasmids, producing DNA fragments with complementary sticky ends that can be reassembled to create a recombinant plasmid.

The discovery of restriction enzymes and their applications in DNA analysis has proven to be essential for biologists and chemists. This lesson focuses on restriction enzymes and their applications to DNA analysis and DNA fingerprinting. Use this lesson and its associated activity in conjunction with biology lessons on DNA analysis and DNA replication.

A collection of resources for students. This website includes many free lessons, activities and resources for students.
Some things included:
- FBI History
- Forensics Blogs
- CSI Web Adventures
- Fingerprints
- Blood & DNA
- Many, many more!

Every week Science North will provide Grade 8 teachers with a pre-recorded video and printable resource.

Teachers will be able to share these YouTube videos and resources with students weekly.

Included are classroom videos, student handouts, and offline lesson plans.

These videos and handouts can be sent to students to provide them with key concepts and activities that link to the curriculum.

In this simulation, users will practice transforming bacterial cells with a recombinant plasmid using the heat shock method.

Anchoring Phenomenon: Identical twins have the same DNA yet one was diagnosed with breast cancer and the other was not?? One about diabetes? Unit Essential Question: Why are some people diagnosed with diabetes and breast cancer while others are not?

In the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) simulation you will be thrown right into a crime scene where a murder has taken place. To investigate the crime scene your first task is to collect blood samples in the hope that the murderer has left traces of their DNA.

Analyze DNA
After sampling you will go to the lab to isolate and analyze the sample of DNA you collected. By using a PCR kit, a thermocycler, and the purified DNA from the crime scene, it is up to you to mix the correct reagents and perform the PCR experiment.

See the structure of DNA and its replication up close
A 3D animation will show the PCR experiment at the molecular level, illustrating the structure of DNA and its replication. Quiz questions will be asked throughout the experimental process, as well as at specific steps of the PCR itself.

Identify the murderer
In the PCR simulation, you will your collected sample and other prepared samples from the suspects on a gel, and then compare the patterns that emerge.

Will you be able to identify the murderer?

Students use DNA profiling to determine who robbed a bank. After they learn how the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is used to match crime scene DNA with tissue sample DNA, students use CODIS principles and sample DNA fragments to determine which of three suspects matches evidence obtain at a crime location. They communicate their results as if they were biomedical engineers reporting to a police crime scene investigation.