Curriculum Packages
LEGO® Atoms and Molecules:
Coming soon: Air!
DNA, Protein, and tRNA Curriculum Package
DNA, Protein, and tRNA Curriculum Package
Educator Events
The following are workshops that we offer. To be put on the mailing list for our next workshop, please Click here or email mindandhandalliance @ mit.edu.
LEGO® Atoms and Molecules Professional Development Workshop
Transform your teaching of abstract chemical concepts (atoms, molecules, chemical reactions and photosynthesis) through hands-on methods using LEGO bricks!
(Check out the Chemical Reactions and/or Photosynthesis curriculum posted above!)
Workshop attendees may reimburse us for $350 which is our at-cost expense for a classroom set. Materials are intended for classes of about 28, and include 14 student kits of LEGO bricks, instructional cards, posters, teacher's guides, and student handouts. We are also accepting donations from people interested in sponsoring sets to schools that can’t afford them. We have letters of request from teachers who are enthusiastically asking for sponsorship. They are eager to teach using the kits having already attended a recent workshop. If you'd like to donate, go to http://giving.mit.edu and search for LEGO or 2732234.
In the Chemical Reactions lesson, students observe a lively chemical reaction in a bag and then model the reactants and products using LEGO bricks as atoms. They learn that chemical reactions produce new products, and can differentiate between atoms and molecules, compounds and mixtures, and physical and chemical changes.
In the Photosynthesis lesson students concretely experience the photosynthesis reaction by rearranging the atoms of LEGO carbon dioxide and water to form a glucose model. They then make chains of starch and cellulose. The lesson teaches students that most of the mass of a plant actually comes from the air and water, rather than from the soil.
Teacher Professional Development Workshop MIT Museum Learning Lab: The Cell
Learn cell biology the hands-on way, using molecular manipulatives to model DNA and amino acids! Experience both the tactile LEGO® and virtual models employed in this sophisticated simulation of protein synthesis!
Who should attend:
• Middle School and High School Science Teachers who would like to refresh their molecular biology.
• Teachers who are exploring the idea of bringing a class to the Learning Lab at the MIT Museum.
More about the teacher workshop:
In this two hour workshop, we will learn about two approaches to teaching molecular biology: using physical manipulatives based on LEGO, and computer modeling.
In the facilitated LEGO program, we learn about protein structure by building a channel protein.
First, we build and fold LEGO amino acid chains. We then utilize a gene, created from LEGO nucleotides, and step through transcribing and translating the DNA using the LEGO models of mRNA and tRNA. Because the room is designed to represent a cell, we move between the appropriate cellular compartments as we perform these molecular processes. We finish by placing our channel protein in the cell membrane. In addition, we observe the effect of a single nucleotide replacement in the shape of the resulting protein and discuss cystic fibrosis as an example of such a replacement.
In the computer modeling portion, we work with the program Molecular Workbench, created by the Concord Consortium. This software models the major concepts in protein synthesis and both DNA and protein structure. We will also explore the STAR Biochem program developed at MIT – an amazing 3-D visualization tool for exploring protein structure that we used with more advanced groups, such as AP Biology classes.
Three grade level appropriate lessons are offered at the Museum, meeting the Mass State Standards (middle school, high school and AP)
Go to the MIT Museum Workshop webpage to view future workshops. To be put on the mailing list for our next workshop, please Click here or email mindandhandalliance @ mit.edu.
Telling Your Story Workshop
Interested in having scientists visit your classroom? Check out the Telling Your Story program! Your students will get to know a working scientist, providing a role model for students interested in STEM careers. The program will also help students understand more about how science works, who does science, and what motivates scientific curiosity.
The Telling Your Story program aims to form collaborations between research scientists and K-12 teachers that will result in ongoing classroom visits by scientists, and lab visits by teachers and their students. The program brings together scientists and K-12 educators in a workshop that lets each group learn about, and from, the other. Scientists are taught effective communication skills appropriate for K-12 audiences, and work with teachers to develop ideas and formats for classroom visits.
To learn more about the original version of TYS, aimed mainly at the ocean sciences, go here.
We seek scientists in the general fields of the Earth Sciences and Evolutionary Biology, and science teachers of all kinds in the Greater Boston area, who would be interested in participating in a TYS workshop in early 2011, with follow up interactions throughout the spring 2011 semester.
Please fill out this short survey if you wish to be involved: http://www.complex-life.org/TYS
This workshop is funded by the Paleontological Society and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. TYS was originally developed by TERC.
Please contact Education and Outreach Coordinator Phoebe Cohen at pcohen@complex-life.org for more information.
Edgerton Center Outreach
Bring your classes to MIT for hands-on curriculum at the Edgerton Center!
The Edgerton Center Outreach Program works with school groups, homeschoolers, summer programs and many other groups in the greater Boston area and beyond. We offer exciting, three-hour, hands-on science and engineering activities suited to a range of grade levels, all free of cost. A description of each activity is available online.
Educator Tips for Working with Volunteers
If you’ve decided to have a volunteer in your classroom, we have some information for you to make it more useful and less stressful:
- COSEE Telling Your Story Materials (This site has planning materials for both volunteers and educators.)
- 25 Ways to Catch and Keep Volunteers from www.greatschools.net.
Other MIT Resources
MIT has many K-12 Outreach Resources. For a list and a searchable database, go to web.mit.edu/outreach.
The MIT OpenCourseWare team has compiled a set of materials useful for high school students and teachers.
