On November 15, Biology students learned about Mitosis and Meiosis as well as the potential mutations the cells can acquire while going through the process. They later played a game among themselves which helped them better understand this process.
The students arranged themselves into groups of four or five and each had their own personal whiteboard. On the whiteboard, they wrote their names and passed it around the group in a circle. On each rotation, the students either erased a letter of their classmates name, added a letter, or substituted a letter for a new one. After a few rounds, the whiteboard was returned to the original student so they could see the impacts these changes made to their name.
This activity demonstrates what mutations can occur in the cell as the DNA is being copied. As the DNA is unzipped and the enzyme attaches, three base mutations can occur. These are insertion, when an additional base pair is added to the DNA sequence, substitution, when one base is substituted for another, and deletion, when a base or sequence is left out. These mutations can either be beneficial in some cases, unnoticeable, or very serious depending on where the mutation occurs.
Later in the class, the students learned about the key differences between Mitosis and Meiosis. They learned that in Mitosis, the cell is divided into two identical cells, where the nucleus splits in half and the number of chromosomes is maintained. In Meiosis however, the division of the cell causes the number of chromosomes to be reduced by half. This type of cell division occurs in our sex cells called Gametes. It is important that there are only half the amount of chromosomes in these cells because once a sperm and ova meet, they combine chromosomes and provide the future baby with the right number of chromosomes.