Lesson Idea

Teaching Activities About Genetics and Gene Editing

This collection highlights teaching activities, hands-on lessons, and online simulations we found on the web that can help students learn about genetics and gene editing. They are created by science educators and partner education organizations. Just as all our original content is free, we only recommend external resources that are free for teachers. If you find any issues with these resources, please let us know by emailing: editor @ sciencejournalforkids.org

1. GMO Seeds Experiment

This activity is offered by Science Buddies, a nonprofit that develops free, online experiments with scientists for students. In this activity, students grow genetically modified plants and experiment with Roundup to see the impact an herbicide has on them.

Image from Science Buddies

Activity: web page
Topic: genetically modified organism (GMO), agriculture
Level: middle school, high school

2. GMO Debate

This activity is offered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), authored in 2009 by Quest University Canada’s then-Curriculum Coordinator Annie Prud’homme Généreux. In this activity, students will debate about the importance of genetically-modified golden rice. The teacher’s guide includes a basic debate structure with detailed handouts for the “pro” and “con” perspectives, each with lengthy source references for independent preparation.

Image from NSTA

Activity: PDF
Topic: genetically modified organism (GMO), agriculture
Level: high school

3. Bacterial Transformation Modeling Lab

This activity is offered by Teach Engineering, an online curriculum library that highlights engineering design and design thinking in its STEM teaching resources. In this activity, students use paper models to simulate genetic modification of bacteria.

Image from Teach Engineering

Activity: web page
Topic: gene editing, bacteria, plasmids
Level: high school

4. DNA Extraction Lab

This activity is offered by Purdue University’s GEMS (Girls Excelling in Math and Science), which began in 1994 as STEM clubs for girls; this activity was published in 2019. In this lab, students will extract DNA from strawberries. They will learn the importance of each step as it relates to cell structure.

Image from GEMS Facebook page

Activity: PDF
Topic: DNA, DNA extraction, chromosomes
Level: middle school, high school

5. Double Helix Modeling

This activity is offered by Teach Engineering. In this activity, students use gumdrops and toothpicks to build a model of DNA’s double helix structure.

Image from Teach Engineering

Activity: web page
Topic: DNA, double helix, chromosomes
Level: middle school

6. Insect Building Lab

This activity is offered by the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers. Students build model insects based on probability of alleles getting passed down from parents. In this activity, students learn about the dominant and recessive forms of genes and how they result in phenotypes.

Image from CIBT

Activity: web page, teacher doc, student doc
Topic: insects, genetics, phenotypes, alleles
Level: middle school, high school

7. Basic Genetics Collection

This set of activities is offered by Basic Genetics, an extension of the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah. Activities in this set include videos, interactive simulations, and information. They are grouped in eight headers: basic genetics, chromosomes, traits, DNA and genes, inheritance, proteins, RNA, and mutation.

Image from GSLC

Collection: web page
Topic: DNA, genes, chromosomes, mutations, RNA, inheritance
Level: high school

8. Cell Cycle Game

This activity is offered by the Nobel Prize‘s educational outreach division. In this online game, students learn about checkpoints of the cell cycle and what happens when the cell cycle goes wrong.

Image from Nobel Prize

Activity: web page
Topic: cell cycle, cell division
Level: high school

9. Bacterial Transformation Virtual Lab

This activity is offered by LabXchange, a Harvard University online learning resource funded by the Amgen Foundation. In this virtual lab simulation, students first learn about bacterial transformation and then practice transforming bacterial cells with a recombinant plasmid using the heat shock method.

Image from LabXchange

Activity: web page
Topic: microbiology, cell cycle, DNA, gene editing, plasmids
Level: high school

That’s Not All!

Check out our full collections of adapted research articles on Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Paleogenetics, and Stem Cells. Each article comes with tailored teaching resources, lessons, labs, and other activities for your students.