1. Cell cycle and cell growth chapters are best understood after knowing the structure and function of nucleic acids.

2. Heredity chapters further depend on understanding of how the structure of DNA lends itself to replication and to inheritance of discrete units.

3. Evolution through natural selection is ultimately understood by analysis of allele frequencies in populations; the structure of the genome is critical to this understanding.

1. A slide of red blood cells (RBCs) from an individual with sickle cell anemia can be used to emphasize the major points of this section: the cell's genetic material (the organism's genome), which is inherited from the individual's parents, is a program that guides the structure and, hence, the function, of proteins in the organism. The sickled shape of the RBC occurs as a result of a specific inherited genotype, and directly affects the function of the blood cell.

1. A picture of Gregor Mendel, his pea plants, his notebook of results, or something along those lines, is a good slide to show for this section.

1. Slides of Drosophila mutants, readily available, could be shown.

2. A gene map for the four Drosophila chromosomes, also readily available, could be shown or posted.

3. Actual live cultures of Drosophila are good for showing the four stages in the life cycle and for making the organism more familiar.

1. Neurospora colonies could be shown or the experiments involving them could be modeled using a simple drawing program.

2. Show slides showing the results of human errors of metabolism (e.g. persons with various birth defects or diseases).

1. Various slides, or actual cultures, of the types of organisms used in these experiments, are useful.

2. Pictures of the relatively crude equipment used in some of these experiments, and of the persons who did the experiments, are generally effective in making them real and meaningful to students. Also, notes about the dates of some of the discoveries, and how recently they were made, are impressive.

1. Slides of phage particles are very dramatic.

2. Present plated bacteria showing a lawn of bacteria, a properly streaked plate of bacteria, and an isolated colony on a plate.

3. Actual plates or slides showing unusual colony morphologies would help students see that bacteria include a variety of organisms with individual determinable characteristics at both the macro and micro levels.

1. The Hershey and Chase experiment, a beautifully simple experiment that also relied upon rather crude equipment, could be illustrated with photos, flowcharts, and available text figures (12.13).

1. A large color-coded DNA model should be presented and discussed.

2. Laser video disc motion pictures often show three-dimensional pictures of the helix coiling and uncoiling.

3. A picture of Franklin and Wilkins' X-ray diffraction photo is effective (Figure 12.15).

4. A picture of Watson and Crick with their model is a classic item to show on this topic.

1. There are some animation programs that show DNA replication in three-dimensional view.

1. A computer drawing program can be used to show a portion of a DNA strand in terms of its nucleotides, and to emphasize the fact that there are only four nucleotides in the genome.

2. In addition, a drawing program can be used to show how the four nucleotides of the genome are analogous to Morse code components for the English language.

3. Protein folding animation programs are in existence.

1. A computer program that can present text and graphics could be used to easily demonstrate the various types of mutation, using letters for nucleotides and manipulating them accordingly.

2. Actual bacterial colonies on plates could be shown, to demonstrate visually the consequences of mutation, such as colony color changes or morphology anomalies resulting from UV light exposure.