Making DNA model sets for Biology
I spent my Saturday morning doing something unusual.
I made 70 DNA model sets for my Biology classes.
Here is the finished product. I will give the students a ziploc baggie with the components and they will need to assemble it into something that roughly looks like this (using their own creative license to some extent).
Here is the technical part for my bio readers: The red strawberry twizzlers are the phosphates. The marshmallows are the sugars. The 2 of them comprise the “sugar-phosphate backbone.” Then the nucleotides are the gummi bears in the middle connected to the sugars. I was planning on have guanine be green, cytosine be orange, adenine be red, and thymine be yellow. So, if they remember their base-pairing rules, they can match up the colors. Note that I took this photo before I realized that i had the least number of greens and oranges and the most reds and yellows. So the base-pairing is different in this photo. I changed it around once I re-ordered the colors. I also have a 5′ and 3′ end of phosphates and sugars.
It was interesting trying to buy enough candy. I had to take a calculator with me to the store so that I’d buy enough.
2 bags of twizzlers, so that I could cut each strand into 4 pieces and have 420
12 bags of marshmallows – also need 420
5 bags of gummi bears – needed 420 – preferably 100 of each color – but it turned out that there weren’t many green ones. There were 70, thank goodness; so each student does get one green-orange pair
toothpicks – a box of 800 – really only need 210 if students make it the way I did. But if not, they might need 6 each, or maybe even 9-12.
ziploc bags – a box of 100 – needed 70
Here is how it looked after I got the twizzlers cut and the gummi bears sorted into colors.
And I thought the gummie bears looked so pretty that I took a photo specifically of them.
And the beginning of the assembly line of sorts where I put 6 marshmallows into each baggie.
And the finished product
The hershey’s kisses bag was to reward anyone who figured out the 5′ –> 3′ phosphate –> sugar structure. But I might keep them for the review session before the exam instead. After thinking about it, it seems odd to reward someone for making a model right with more candy. Especially when they will probably eat most of the candy in the model set in class anyway. Can we say “recipe for disaster?” A bunch of students with a massive sugar high? For that reason, I was going to have them make the models at the end of class, but I want them to have enough time for it. So, I might lecture for a little while, do the models, and then go back to lecturing for a little while. I haven’t entirely made up my mind.
Anyway, I thought it was unusual enough to share. I didn’t come up with the idea myself, BTW. I got the idea from another bio student who was in my preparing future faculty class. I thought it was a good idea for beginning students in biology. We’ll see how it plays out tomorrow. 
I might take a couple pictures tomorrow if I can find some students who don’t mind showing off their DNA models…. We have a department newsletter and it might be kind of fun to have it in there if the person putting the newsletter together likes it.
squirl says:
That looks cool! I think having you for a teacher would be fun. And I never cared for biology. I’m kind of in your old stompin’ grounds for school right now. We’re sitting in our room in Framingham getting ready to start the day with my aunt and uncle.
Amber says:
Sign me up for the next available class!
I don’t ever remember dna models being quite as tasty.
Perhaps if you time the dna modeling time just right, the students can eat the candy afterward while you lecture, then class will end and you can send your sugar highed students to a different professor to deal with.
Danielle says:
Well, I didn’t take pictures. I decided it would be too dorky and probably not newsletter worthy. But I’m glad you guys think it sounded like such a good idea. I think that the students really enjoyed it. Not to mention that they kind of needed a break after studying so hard for a quiz that they took first thing in class.
Hopefully, they will remember the structure of DNA now.
kalki says:
Very creative! And hands-on activities like that always helped me understand the content so much better, especially in science class.
Ern says:
It’s like the chemistry ball an stick sets! Only yummier.
Jenski says:
Okay, so I am WAY behind on my internet life…This is SUCH a great idea. I hope the students had fun!
Jalika says:
Great photos! I learned this from a DNA training I had 4 years ago and have been doing it ever since… and I never get complaints from the students!
However, since my students aren’t bio majors, I let them use the whole twizzler stick as a sugar/phosphate backbone and instead, they string the individual twizzler sticks so that they can “twist” the DNA in the shape of the double helix. I’ve also seen the variation of the gummy-marshmellow-gummy, with the marshmellow acting as the bond between AT and CG.
Congrats to you for being so generous ~ I make my students buy the material themselves so they can get the candy they like
Todd dna model says:
They look not only delicous but well made dna models
Karen says:
I think that they look great enough to eat right now. I have to do a project on DNA and this looks good to do and to eat
Tarianna says:
WOW!!! thats looks really fun…too bad i had biology already…:( this kind of makes me want to be a freshman again….ma’m u did a really great job!!!!!!!!
gina says:
i LOVE IT I THING I WILL USE IT FOR MY PROJECT AT SCHOOL I HAVE TO MAKE A DNA MODL THIS WILL BE COOL. THANKS A LOT I WILL GET AN A+++++
gina says:
i LOVE IT I THING I WILL USE IT FOR MY PROJECT AT SCHOOL I HAVE TO MAKE A DNA MODEL THIS WILL BE COOL. THANKS A LOT I WILL GET AN A++++. YOUR BUDDY GINA FEDELE ( I DON’T REALLY DON’T KNOW YOU BUT BYE)……
gina says:
i LOVE IT I THING I WILL USE IT FOR MY PROJECT AT SCHOOL I HAVE TO MAKE A DNA MODEL THIS WILL BE COOL. THANKS A LOT I WILL GET AN A++++. YOUR BUDDY GINA FEDEL ( I DON’T REALLY DON’T KNOW YOU BUT B