This curriculm module is designed for use with high school biology students, especially honors or Advanced Placement level classes. Students will use inquiry skills to make and test predictions about genes and their corresponding proteins, learn to use bioinformatics programs, and pursue their own studies of genes and proteins of interest to them. The module allows for flexibility in timing and content.

By integrating human ingenuity and reasoning with computational analysis, students can begin to answer some of the following genome-scale questions... and more:

• How can we identify and annotate or describe the protein-coding sequences apart from the rest of the DNA in an organism’s genome?
• Is the sequence of a newly discovered gene similar to that of another gene that is better understood, and can we use that information as an experimental starting point?
• If a new gene is unlike any previously studied genes, does the protein that it encodes have identifiable characteristics that give clues as to its possible function?

Downloadable WORD files:

Teacher's Guide

Student Version:

Handout #1
Handout #2