Audience
Educators
Grade Levels
Grades 5-8
Subject
Life Science, Space Science, Space Radiation
Type
Lesson Plans / Activities
DNA is made of individual units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide has two parts – a phosphate-sugar section that forms part of the backbone, or strand, and the base that is the information for the sequence, or genetic code.
By the end of this lesson, the students are able to:
- Construct a model of a DNA molecule.
- Understand that DNA can be damaged from radiation.
- Visualize models of different kinds of radiation-damaged DNA.
- Explain the difference between double strand and single strand breaks.
Modeling Radiation-Damaged DNA [480KB PDF file]
This activity is part of the Space Faring: The Radiation Challenge Middle School Educator Guide.