Lesson Plan #: AELP-BIO0091
Submitted by: Chia-Robert Ho
Email: cyho@rocketmail.com
School/University/Affiliation: MLK Middle School Date: August 31, 1999

Grade Level(s): 6, 7, 8, 9

Subject(s):

• Science/Biology

Duration: 15-20 minutes Description: Mnemonic device for remembering the phases of mitosis.

Goals: California Science Standard for 7th grade – Life Science
Model the usage of a mnemonic device for the memorizing and understanding of mitosis.

Objectives:   Students will be able to:
1. memorize the phases of mitosis with more ease.
2.  model this strategy in creation of their own mnemonic device for the phases of mitosis.

Materials: None specified.

Procedure:

Beginning of class:

Prepare the students for the presentation and ask them to relate the presentation to phases of mitosis.

The Mitosis Story

1. In any type of a skit there is a setting and characters. In this skit, the setting is in a pro-wrestling ring and the characters are the pro-wrestlers and a little girl.
2. At the beginning someone has to enter (INTERPHASE) the ring for the match to start.
3. Now, we know that all pro-wrestlers (PROPHASE) like to put on some sort of an outfit. In this match, our pro-wrestlers dress up like a big X (a condensed chromosome).
4. After the first X-like pro-wrestler appears, it magically replicates. Now, we have two identical X-shaped pro-wrestlers in the ring. These two wrestlers faces each other in the middle (METAPHASE) of the ring and set up the stage for a fight.
5. As the 2 wrestlers are ready to fight, a little girl named Ana came running into the ring to stop the fight (ANAPHASE). She had learned that civilized people should not fight; so, she intends on breaking up the fight. Ana brought out several lengths of cords and roped them around the wrestlers and started pulling them apart.
6. After a bit of a struggle, she pulled the X-shaped wrestlers apart. She is pretty happy about what she did, and she called her mom to tell her about what she did. Now everyone knows that a telephone (TELOPHASE) looks like – two circles connect in the center (draw this on the board for the students).
7. After the phone call, Ana is really tired and she wants to go home. She got on her bicycle (CYTOKINESIS) and rode home (the 2 wheels of the bicycle are apart, like the new divided cells).

Assessment:

1. Ask the students to relate the skit to the phases of mitosis. They will need to describe the steps of mitosis in their journal.
2. The students can write their own skit for mitosis or create one for meiosis.