Enzyme Puzzle Pieces
This is an activity that can be used to teach students the importance of enzyme-substrate recognition and bonding. For a chemical reaction to be catalyzed by an enzyme the substrate must fit precisely in the active site of the enzyme, much like a lock and key. In this activity you can use construction paper to show how the enzyme and substrate fit perfectly together based on their shape.
Begin by cutting out various "protein shapes" from construction paper. They can be any shape you would like and all of them can be different. Next, cut out an "active site" on the construction paper protein. The active site should be a small section of the protein where another piece of paper could easily fit. Please see the diagram below:
Next, use a different color construction paper to cut out a substrate molecule that will fit precisely into the active site on the protein. Please see the diagram below:
Once you have cut out several sets of proteins and active sites pass one piece of construction paper out to each student in your class. They may have a protein or a substrate piece. Then, have the student move around the room to find their "partner." They should know that they must find someone that has the piece that matches theirs, either the protein or the substrate. Once they find their partner, have them discuss why they belong together. Seeing the pieces fit together perfectly and discussing the "lock and key" mechanism of proteins and substrates will help students remember how important the shape of proteins and substrates are to their function.
Enzyme Lab
This lab activity is used to teach the function of enzymes as catalysts in chemical reactions. They will use various enzymes to speed up the process of making apple juice from applesauce. The procedure is as follows:
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1. Place filter paper in a funnel and put funnel in a flask.
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2. Set up three flasks with funnels.
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3. Pour exactly 20g of apple sauce into each funnel.
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4. Add water to the first funnel (8 mL)
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5. Add Cellulase enzyme to the second funnel (8 mL)
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6. Add Pectinase enzyme to the third funnel (8 mL)
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7. Let each flask sit for exactly 20 minutes.
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8. After 20 minutes, measure how much juice was produced from each flask using a graduated cylinder.
The students should see that the flasks where an enzyme was added to the applesauce created more juice than the flask that only had water added to it. This will facilitate a discussion about the importance of enzymes catalyzing chemical reactions and can lead to further discussions about chemical reactions in the human body.
Engineering Pharmaceuticals Research Project
In this activity students will act as researchers working for a drug development company. They will use the research project found on teachengineering.org to learn about the research phase of drug design and development and learn about biomedical engineers. The lesson outline is described below and the link to the resources for this lesson is located in Appendix B.
Begin by teaching students about biomedical engineering. Review the school required by biomedical engineers and their basic responsibilities in the areas of medicine and biology. Next, review the engineering design process with your students. The engineering design process is discussed in great detail in a previous section of this paper.
Once you have reviewed the necessary background information with your students, give them the biomedical research problem. The research question for this lesson relates to the develop of a new drug, "Outstandix," by a pharmaceutical company. The drug is in the research phase of the engineering design process so the students will act as researchers gathering and prior knowledge that is known about the function of this drug. The drug drastically reduces the levels of the protein Osteopontin in the blood, so students will need to research what others have already learned about Osteopontin in the human body. Students will access scholarly articles in order to gain the information needed to decide if "Outstandix" will be safe for human use and should continue its development.
Close Reading
Close Reading is a technique that can be used to teach students how to read and analyze complex texts. It has been shown that the number one predictor of success in college is the ability of a student to read and understand complex texts. In my classroom, I have found that many of my students read below grade-level, so I have implemented a Close Reading Protocol to teach students how to read complex texts that are at or above grade-level. The protocol is outlined below and a sample lesson using a 12
th
grade text from Scientific American is included.
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1. Choose a complex text that is at or above grade-level from a scholarly journal or scientific writing
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2. Select the most important part of the text that is less than 100 lines. It is important in Close Reading that the text is short and concise. You can choose to put various pieces of the text together as long as the entire reading is less than 100 lines in the end.
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3. Chunk the text into small parts that are 1-3 sentences long. You students will be reading and re-reading these small sections one at a time in order to dissect and understand the language.
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4. For each small chunk, students will read silently as you read aloud.
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5. Then, discuss any words that your students might not understand. Write down synonyms for these words.
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6. Have students read the section again independently and then have them paraphrase it with a partner.
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7. Discuss the paraphrases as a class. At this point all of the students should have an understand of the short passage.
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8. Have students read the section again independently and then answer a higher-order thinking question about the small section.
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9. You can choose to discuss answers to these questions now or may wait until the entire text has been read.
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10. Repeat for each short section until you have gone through the entire text.
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11. Finish with a "Big Question" or task for the students that requires them to use all of the information from the text.
The purpose of Close Reading is to have students focus on reading very small, but complex texts. They will read the same couple sentences at least 3 times each in order to make sure they have developed a deep understanding and meaning. A sample text and questions are outlined below. The sample text has been chunked into small sections and there are synonyms for complex terms included that students can fill-in the blanks with.
