Lesson Plan Title: Meiosis overview
Concept/Topic to Teach: Meiosis I and II
Standards Addressed: Standard 6.) Describe the roles of mitotic and meiotic
divisions during reproduction, growth, and repair of cells.
Specific Objectives: The students will be able to:
- summarize the phases of Meiosis I and II
- illustrate and interpret scientific diagrams of the phases of Meiosis I and II.
- compare Meiosis I and II based on their outcomes
- compare diploid to haploid cells
-explain crossing over on genetic variation in daughter cells.
Required Materials: Prentice Hall Biology Textbook South Carolina Edition,
Computer (Dragonfly Book), DVD companion to textbook, “Life’s
Greatest Miracle” video, notes given in class, Flinn lab on crossing over
on Meiosis called Allele’s Crossing Over to the Other Side – Homologous
Chromosomes and Meiosis, CellsAlive.com website, webquest for cells
alive website, access to bubbl.us crayons, colored pencils and paper,
Jeopardy power point.
Anticipatory Set (Lead-In): View clips from “The Miracle of Life” on fertilization
and birth. Review the lesson on Mitosis as well as allow students to ask
questions on sexual reproduction with honest conversations and
answers to peak their interest on the subject. Explain to the students
that they will be learning how sex cells are made and the process that
makes them.
Step-By-Step Procedures for Teaching the Lesson: After showing the clips and
having the talk dispelling myths and misunderstandings about sexual
reproduction, provide notes Meiosis I and II. Once notes are complete,
watch clips from text book companion DVD on crossing over and
overviews of Meiosis. To assure proficiency on subject I would have a
quiz with questions like, “What is the difference between a diploid and a
haploid cell?”, “What is the difference between diploid and haploid
cells?” I would also have the students list what happens in each phase
of Meiosis. Next, provide demonstration on crossing over with Flinn lab
on crossing over in Meiosis. Ask questions about when crossing over
takes place and, “Why do chromosomes cross over?” Allow students to
visit Cells Alive.com website and complete the webquest. In the
webquest, I would ask students to draw what happens in certain phases,
as well as, “Describe what happens to chromosomes between the
beginning of Meiosis I and the end of Meiosis II?” and “What is the
difference between Mitosis and Meiosis?”.
Guided Practice/Monitoring: Students have two different assignments from
which to choose. One assignment is to use bubbl.us to design a flow
chart of meiosis from Interphase to Telophase II. The diagram must
describe the movement of chromosomes, centrioles, spindle fibers,
nuclear envelope and cellular membrane. The other is to design a flip
book animation of one cell going through meiosis. The cells must
illustrate the movement of chromosomes, centrioles, spindle fibers,
nuclear envelope and cellular membrane. Both of these projects have
a rubric for guidance and grading.
Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set): A review game in the style of Jeopardy will be
played to ensure grasping of concepts. Questions on this review game
would be: “Why are sex cells haploid cells?”, “What happens to the
chromosomes in Metaphase I?”, “What is the difference between
genetic material in Anaphase I as opposed to Anaphase II?”. “Are
human sex cells diploid or haploid?” Other questions would relate
meiosis to human sexual reproduction.
Assessment Based on Objectives:  The student must be able to illustrate and
interpret scientific diagrams of meiosis, compare meiosis II and meiosis
II with regard to outcome, compare haploid to diploid cells, compare
mitosis and meiosis with regard to process and outcome, and explain
crossing over on genetic variation all with 80% accuracy.
Adaptations (For Students With Special Needs): There is a hearing impaired
student in my class. For all exercises and lectures the student will have
an interpreter in class to translate in to American Sign Language. All
clips of the video will contain closed captioning for understanding.
Extensions (For Advanced Students): For advanced students I would include a
third requirement to the guided practice, a two page essay to the
question, “What affects does crossing over have on the variation of
genes, and how does that affect us as humans?” I would also have a
different more stringent rubric for the concept map or flip book.
Possible Connections to Other Subjects: Other subject areas that could lead into
is genetic outcomes of the offspring can be tracked in a statistics or other math
class.
Reflection: In presenting this lesson, I felt that there should have been more
discussion of the class and less presentation of facts. For instance, rather than
give students a short amount of time to ask questions about misconceptions of
sexual reproduction allow them to write down their questions. There might be
more honesty in anonymity. The concepts were grasped well by the relating of
meiosis to mitosis especially since it was such a relatable topic. The concept
map was well liked and was fairly good for the most part, except that our
schools server had a problem running bubbl.us and the maps had to be done by
hand. The flip books also allowed the students to express themselves while
being creative.