Review

I found this journal article to be an excellent resource and highly informative. The article does a nice job of breaking down how students carry out this investigation in the classroom and ... See More

I found this journal article to be an excellent resource and highly informative. The article does a nice job of breaking down how students carry out this investigation in the classroom and how this activity aligns to the NGSS. I am glad I came across this article because it is a lesson design that I would implement when I start teaching. The students are given the opportunity to take over the planning and design during this DNA extraction activity. Students are given a refresher and background information about cell structure and function. The teacher provides a bag of materials to allow students’ to analyze the organization of the cell, most notable the cell membrane and nucleus where the DNA is contained. This helps to activate their prior knowledge on the subject. The students are then group and set on their way to collaborate within their groups to design a method to extract DNA from strawberries. I like the fact that the students are given this authority making the design. It encourages them to work like scientists and communicate effectively within the group. This also allows them too on their own work through problems of understanding how the different materials may be used for extraction. Students must work together to decide what materials and their properties will be used in their design to make a successful extraction. This collaborative work also allows students to sift through the data and develop a design through argumentation. The students also document their design protocol and how they carry out their procedures. They then collect their results, gather the data, and create explanations for how their designs worked based on evidence. This is great practice the students because it allows them to see how science is carried out in the real world. They are able to exercise their creative sides and make the design their own. Another part of this lesson I think is great is the ability of the groups to come together to present results, critique designs, argue, and learn from each other. This allows for students to go back and re-design in attempts to make their experiment successful. This whole process is great because it ensures that students are engaged and creates an interactive learning environment. I did not find anything in this article I disliked. I think this practice was set up well for students to take agency over their learning. The lesson design and practice is able to align with High School standards as well as NGSS standards appropriately. It ensures all students are engaged in an interactive learning environment.