Genetics - Cells, Socks, and Sex

Cells, Socks, and Sex

Teacher: RevaBeth Russell
Subject: mitosis, meiosis, nondisjunction
Grade Level(s): 10 11 12
Target Audience: Biology I, II, AP Biology, Genetics
Materials Needed: pairs of socks
Class Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Brief Summary: Visual representation of mitosis, meiosis, gamete formation and fertilization.
Student Objective(s): To be able to describe all the steps of mitosis and meiosis
Integration (tying it all together): Seeing this activity is the introduction and the tie in to the whole genetics unit.
Description of Activities: A large striped piece of fabric, twisted hundreds of times in a mixer represents chromatin material. Discuss histones and nucleosomes and how much information is coded into the chromosomes. Load a clear balloon with 2 identical socks, joined at the center with a velcro "centromere". Blow up the balloon to represent the nuclear membrane, then pop it. The 2 sock represent a chromosome that has duplicated. Use socks with colored stripes, so you can easily make references to the genes in them. Add another sock chromosome (that has finished prophase). Line these all down the middle of your body (metaphase) and then pull them apart (anaphase) to the poles, your hands (telophase). Each hand now has the chromatin material of an identical daughter cell. Use a similar approach to teach meiosis but with unidentical socks to represent homologous pairs. (See hand-out for completion of activity.)

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