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• Describe how cells can produce proteins at the right time and correct amount. 
• Diagram a bacterial promoter with −35 and −10 elements and the transcription start site.
• Describe how mutational analysis can be used to study promoter sequence requirements.
• Develop a promoter mutation hypothesis and design an experiment to test it.
• Successfully and safely manipulate DNA and Escherichia coli for ligation and transformation experiments. 
• Design an experiment to verify a mutated promoter has been cloned into a destination vector. 
• Design an experiment to measure the strength of a promoter. 
• Analyze data showing reporter protein produced and use the data to assess promoter strength. 
• Define type IIs restriction enzymes.
• Distinguish between type II and type IIs restriction enzymes.
• Explain how Golden Gate Assembly (GGA) works.
• Measure the relative strength of a promoter compared to a standard promoter.  

• Students will be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data.

• Students will be able to employ prior knowledge in formulating a biological research question or hypothesis.

• Students will be able to distinguish a research question from a testable hypothesis.

• Students will recognize that the following are essential elements in experimental design: identifying gaps in prior knowledge, picking an appropriate approach (ex. experimental tools and controls) for testing a hypothesis, and reproducibility and repeatability.

• Students will be able to identify appropriate experimental tools, approaches and controls to use in testing a hypothesis.

• Students will be able to accurately explain why an experimental approach they have selected is a good choice for testing a particular hypothesis.

• Students will be able to discuss whether experimental outcomes support or fail to support a particular hypothesis, and in the case of the latter, discuss possible reasons why.

Students will able to:

• compare and contrast spatial and temporal summation in terms of the number of presynaptic events and the timing of these events
• predict the relative contribution to reaching threshold and firing an action potential as a function of distance from the axon hillock
• predict how the frequency of incoming presynaptic action potentials effects the success of temporal summation of resultant postsynaptic potentials

Students will be able to:

• Construct written predictions about 1 factor experiments.
• Interpret simple (2 variables) figures.
• Construct simple (2 variables) figures from data.
• Design simple 1 factor experiments with appropriate controls.
• Demonstrate proper use of standard laboratory items, including a two-stop pipette, stereomicroscope, and laboratory notebook.
• Calculate means and standard deviations.
• Given some scaffolding (instructions), select the correct statistical test for a data set, be able to run a t-test, ANOVA, chi-squared test, and linear regression in Microsoft Excel, and be able to correctly interpret their results.
• Construct and present a scientific poster.

Topics within Playon Words are grouped into “mini-games.” The Learning Objectives for each mini-game are as follows: Sentence Sensei

• Identify the best sentence variant from a list of options
• Identify and eliminate needless words
• Identify where and when to use different types of punctuation marks
• Identify and correct common grammar mistakes

Organization Optimizer

• Organize sentences in a logical order
• Describe the components of different sections of a scientific paper
• Identify the section of a scientific paper where a given sentence belongs
• Eliminate sentences which do not belong in a given writing sample

Science Officer Training

• Classify statements as scientific or non-scientific
• Identify which statements support a particular hypothesis or position
• Classify provided sentences (e.g. hypotheses vs. predictions, problems vs. experiments, results vs. discussion)

Reference Referee

• Compare and contrast different types (e.g. primary literature, review articles, popular literature etc.) and sources (PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar etc.) of scientific information
• Identify locations in texts where citations are needed
• Identify citations and/or references that are incorrect or missing key information
• Identify information that does not belong in the reference list (e.g. vendor information)

Students will be able to:

• Explain the hierarchical organization of signal transduction pathways.

• Explain the role of enzymes in signal propagation and amplification.

• Recognize the centrality of signaling pathways in cellular processes, such as metabolism, cell division, or cell motility.

• Rationalize the etiologic basis of disease in terms of deranged signaling pathways.

• Use software to analyze and interpret gene expression data.

• Use an appropriate statistical method for hypotheses testing.

• Produce reports that are written in scientific style.

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• use spot plating techniques to compare the growth of yeast strains on solid culture media.
• predict the ability of specific met deletion strains to grow on media containing various sulfur sources.
• predict how mutations in specific genes will affect the concentrations of metabolites in the pathways involved in methionine biosynthesis.

Students will be able to: Week 1-4: Fundamentals of Science and Biology

• List the major processes involved in scientific discovery
• List the different types of scientific studies and which types can establish causation
• Design experiments with appropriate controls
• Create and evaluate phylogenetic trees
• Define taxonomy and phylogeny and explain their relationship to each other
• Explain DNA sequence divergence and how it applies to evolutionary relationships and DNA barcoding

Week 5-6: Ecology

• Define and measure biodiversity and explain its importance
• Catalog organisms using the morphospecies concept
• Geographically map organisms using smartphones and an online mapping program
• Calculate metrics of species diversity using spreadsheet software
• Use spreadsheet software to quantify and graph biodiversity at forest edges vs. interiors
• Write a formal lab report

Week 7-11: Cellular and Molecular Biology

• Extract, amplify, visualize and sequence DNA using standard molecular techniques (PCR, gel electrophoresis, Sanger sequencing)
• Explain how DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis, and Sanger sequencing work at the molecular level

Week 12-13: Bioinformatics

• Trim and assemble raw DNA sequence data
• Taxonomically identify DNA sequences isolated from unknown organisms using BLAST
• Visualize sequence data relationships using sequence alignments and gene-based phylogenetic trees
• Map and report data in a publicly available online database
• Share data in a formal scientific poster

Students will be able to:

• interpret figures such as maps, phylogenies, STRUCTURE plots, and networks for species delimitation

• identify sources of uncertainty and disagreement in real data sets

• propose research to address or remedy uncertainty

• construct an evidence-based argument for the management of a rare taxon

Students successfully completing this lesson will:

• Practice navigating an online bioinformatics resource and identify evidence relevant to solving investigation questions
• Contrast the array of genes expected on homologous autosomal chromosomes pairs with the array of genes expected on sex chromosome pairs
• Use bioinformatics evidence to defend the definition of homologous chromosomes
• Define chromosomal sex and defend the definition using experimental data
• Investigate the genetic basis of human chromosomal sex determination
• Identify at least two genetic mutations can lead to sex reversal

• Students will name and describe the salient features and cellular tasks for each stage of cell division.

• Students will predict the relative durations of the stages of cell division using prior knowledge and facts from assigned readings.

• Students will describe the relationship between duration of each stage of cell division and the frequency of cells present in each stage of cell division counted in a random sample of images of pluripotent stem cells.

• Students will identify the stages of cell division present in research-quality images of human pluripotent stem cells in various stages of cell division.

• Students will quantify, analyze and summarize data on the prevalence of cells at different stages of cell division in randomly sampled cell populations.

• Students will use data to reflect on and revise predictions.

• Students will locate and download high-throughput sequence data and genome annotation files from publically available data repositories.

• Students will use Galaxy to create an automated computational workflow that performs sequence quality assessment, trimming, and mapping of RNA-seq data.

• Students will analyze and interpret the outputs of RNA-seq analysis programs.

• Students will identify a group of genes that is differentially expressed between treatment and control samples, and interpret the biological significance of this list of differentially expressed genes.

• From raw RNAseq data, run a basic analysis culminating in a list of differentially expressed genes.
• Explain and evaluate statistical tests in RNAseq data. Specifically, given the output of a particular test, students should be able to interpret and explain the result.
• Use the Linux command line to complete specified objectives in an RNAseq workflow.
• Generate meaningful visualizations of results from new data in R.
• (In addition, each chapter of this lesson plan contains more specific learning objectives, such as “Students will demonstrate their ability to map reads to a reference.”)