Brittany Badean Lesson Plan

Observation Lesson #2
Mastery Objectives:
-To participate in scientific discussions with other students to properly analyze and interpret data
from a student performed laboratory experiment
-To draw conclusions about scientific processes based on data from a student performed
laboratory experiment
-To perform research and discuss advantages and disadvantages of the use of genetic
engineering on human society
Basic Lesson Plan:
1. Show the students the cartoon on the smart board
2. Hope that the students laugh! And then ask them to discuss how this cartoon is relevant to
the laboratory procedure that we performed in class on the previous day
3. Have the students separate into their groups and put on gloves and goggles
4. Explain to the students that I have provided each group with one of the starter plates of
bacteria and would like them to make some observations about their physical appearance in
their lab notebooks
5. Turn the lights out and have the students shine the UV light on the bacteria and note if the
bacteria are capable of glowing or not.
6. Ask the students why is it important for us to record observations of the original bacterial
population?
7. Call attention to the entire class and review the genes that are found on the genetically
engineered plasmid that we worked with on the previous day.
8. Have the students talk to their lab partners to review the four hypotheses that they came up
with. (Walk around and listen to their discussions)
9. When the students are finished, provide each group with their four petri dishes.
10. Have the students separate the four plates and begin making observations. Have them
record observations for each of the four plates in their lab notebook.
11. After a few minutes, tell the students that we are now going to turn the light off and they can
use the UV light to see if the bacteria can glow. Ask the class, are you going to shine the
UV light on all of the petri dishes, or only on the petri dish that you think will contain glowing
bacteria?
12. Turn the lights off and have the students work. Look and listen for their excitement!!!
13. Turn the lights back on after a few minutes and have the students continue to discuss and
interpret their findings.
14. Stress to the class that they should be able to explain why the bacteria grew on certain
plates, or why they did not, and they should also be able to explain why the bacteria were
able to glow or if they did not.

15. Walk around and listen to their discussions and make sure that they are all writing things
down in their notebooks.
16. Make sure to meet with each group to discuss their findings and pose additional questions to
them to check for deeper understanding.
-Ex: Why do you think there is more growth on one plate when compared to another?
-Ex: Why did you only see glowing bacteria on one of the plates? What are the
requirements in order to see glowing bacteria?
-Ex: What is responsible for the glowing, the GFP DNA or the GFP Protein? How do you
know? What evidence do you have to support this idea?
-Ex: Are the bacteria on one of the plates (+pGLO LB/AMP) capable for producing the
GFP protein? How would you have to modify the environment in order to prove your hypothesis?
17. After all of the students have completed their discussions, have the students clean up and
wash their hands.
18. Provide each of the students with practice AP questions that relate to the experiment. Have
them complete one side as a group (5 questions).
19. Walk around and check the progress. Inform them if they have any incorrect answers.
20. Tell the students what their homework assignment is. (Research advantages and
disadvantages of genetic engineering)
21. Have the students come back to their seats and individually answer one additional AP
question that is on the back of the sheet they worked on in groups.
22. Check for individual understanding by walking around the room.
23. Go over all of the questions with the students. (May have to happen on Monday!)