Breaking Down Bread
Create your own Wheat Germ DNA sample today! Here’s what you’ll need:
Looking closer to see that something that seems so simple, like the bread on our table, isn’t really so simple after all. The purpose of this activity is that it takes a very abstract subject and brings it to a level that kids can see, work with and relate to. DNA is something that can be difficult to grasp because it cannot be seen. Kids are just told that it is there, making up everything that lives. It is what our body and all living things are made up of, but we can’t see it, so how do we know it’s really there??? This exercise brings it down to a more understandable visual level, while showing kids that even things that seem simple, like bread, are actually pretty complex when you break it down.
Kansas teaching standards for Agriculture Gets into Your DNA Standards for Grades 5-7
Standard 1: Science as Inquiry
- Benchmark 1: The student will demonstrate abilities necessary to do the processes of scientific inquiry.
- Indicator 2: The student designs and conducts scientific investigations safely using appropriate tools, mathematics, technology, and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
Standard 3: Life Science
- Benchmark 1: The student will model structures of organisms and relate functions to the structures.
- Indicator 1: The student will understand the cell theory, that all organisms are composed of one or more cells, cells are the basic unit of life, and that cells come from other cells.
- Indicator 2: The student relates the structure of cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, and whole organisms to their functions.
Questions? Contact the Agriculture Education Division at 785/587-6150.