DNA

To help the 3rd & 4th year students better understand the science behind the timeline of humans, we began talking about DNA last week. We discussed how scientists use DNA to analyze the early human bones and artifacts that they find. Today we built DNA models using candy. Not only did this give students an opportunity to better understand the building blocks of life, it also inspired a long conversation about which candy is actually the worst for your teeth (they left it at a tie between DOTS and Jolly Ranchers).

Everyone took advantage of our open lesson policy this morning, so don't be surprised if your 1st or 2nd year comes home with a DNA model!



We learned that...

• DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid.
• DNA is found in all living things.
• DNA forms a double helix and has a pattern.
• It can unzip and make new DNA.
• The environment can cause mutations to happen (they'll learn more about that next year)
• If we unwrap all the DNA you in our cells, it could reach the moon 6000 times.
• We all have 99.9% of the same DNA - the last tenth of a percent makes us unique.
• We share 50% of our DNA with bananas!
• DNA can help solve mysteries like 'what kind of dog is this?' or 'who killed this endangered snow leopard?"
• If you unwrap all the DNA you have in all your cells, you could reach the moon 6000 times