CLASSROOM RESOURCES

MEET THE TEACHERS WHO USE GENES IN SPACE IN THEIR CLASSROOMS

Middle School

Thunder Ridge High School
Teachers: Pam Schmidt, Richard Elwood, Rebecca Shore and Michelle Carnes

School: Thunder Ridge Middle School

Format: in person

Course: 8th grade science

Placement: Genes in Space is the initial “hook” for our genetics unit, and also bridges us into our astronomy unit

Why Genes in Space? The authentic, real world nature of GiS increases the students’ engagement and sense of, and offers a vehicle around which to meet the NGSS standard of Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits.

Lesson Plan

Genes in Space unit plan:

Week 1: Intro to Genes in Space

Week 2: Introduce biotechnology

Weeks 3-4: Genes in Space Food Safety Lab

Weeks 5-9: Additional genetics concepts

  • Use labs, video clips, notes, readings, and activity sheets to cover mutations, traits, inheritance patterns, pedigrees, and Punnett squares. Throughout these lessons, connect new learning to potential Genes in Space projects.

Week 10: Develop Genes in Space proposal

  • Choose a research question and present it to peers in a class poster session. Focus peer critique on whether questions are testable and require use of the ISS and the Genes in Space Toolkit.
  • Following peer review, complete Space Biology and Scientific Method lesson and worksheets. Select final research question.

Week 11: Draft and submit Genes in Space proposal

Weeks 12 and on: Transition into astronomy and physics

Tips for implementation:

  • We adopted CK12 as a sort of interactive textbook when the COVID pandemic began and we made the switch to virtual schooling.
  • While not necessary, we found it helpful to attend a Genes in Space professional development workshop. This gave us a good grounding in the contest and helped us get comfortable with the Genes in Space toolkit.

High School

Kalee Tock
Teacher: Kalee Tock

School: Stanford Online High School

Format: Online-only

Course: Astrobiology elective

Grade level: 9-12

Why Genes in Space? Students are excited to explore the issues we can expect to encounter as a space-faring species, and I am excited to leverage their interest to teach them about the tools that can be brought to bear on the problem.

Lesson Plan

Genes in Space unit plan:

Week 1: Introduction

  • Get oriented to the challenge. Watch 3 videos on DNA analysis techniques and answer this question set.

Weeks 2-3: Evaluate example proposals

Weeks 4-5: Develop your idea

  • Complete the Find a Gene worksheet to identify a specific gene relevant to a problem on which you might focus your Genes in Space proposal.
  • Draft a Genes in Space application using this template.

Week 6: Peer feedback

  • Read peer proposals. For each, submit a review describing one thing the author(s) did well, and one improvement that would make their proposal even better.
  • Revise and submit your proposal.

Final assessment: Deliver a 3- to 5-minute presentation pitching your idea to your peers.

Tips for implementation:

  • Between weeks 4 and 5, I hold an in-class session of “speed-dating”-style interviews in breakout rooms. Students exchange ideas and develop preferences for who they’d like to team with. I use those preferences to inform group assignments.
  • I meet with my students 2 times per week for 75 minutes each. Depending on your exact schedule, I could see compressing this plan to complete the unit in 3 weeks.

MORE TEACHING RESOURCES

Contest resources:


Teaching resources: Space biology and experimental design

Virtual resources

Current space biology research:


Teaching resources: Biotechnology

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR):

BioBits cell-free protein expression:

Fluorescence detection:

Hands-on resources:

Other techniques: