| Mitosis Action |
| In this lesson, students will present the six phases of mitosis to the rest of the class. Teacher will then give students a handout that summarizes the main points of each step. At the start, each student is given a number from one to six. This number represents the phase of mitosis they will be looking at. Students are asked to become experts on their phases and to begin forming ideas about how to present them. When students are ready, they move into groups. Everyone doing phase one will be in group one, and so on. The students have 15-20 minutes to prepare a brief presentation. The groups are told that they will be marked by their peers on the basis of how interesting and informative the lesson is. This means that a group that sings a song, physically or verbally acts out the phase, or does something of this kind, will get more marks than a group that just talks and puts up a diagram. This is the handout that should be given out AFTER the presentations are finished. An alternative to this handout would be to have the students create their own study guides during the presentations. Mitosis Stage 1: Interphase � cell is resting and not dividing � chromosomes are spread out in nucleus = chromatin THEN: cell receives signal to divide � all chromosomes are copied � two of each (= two chromatids) Stage 2: Prophase � each chromatid winds up � identical chromatids pair up and attach at centromere � centrioles move to opposite ends (poles) of cell � nuclear membrane begins to disappear Stage 3: Metaphase � spindle forms, connecting centrioles to centromeres � chromosomes line up across middle of cell � nuclear membrane is gone Stage 4: Anaphase � centromeres break apart and chromatids separate � chromatids move towards centrioles Stage 5: Telophase � chromatids reach opposite ends of cell � spindle fibers disappear � nuclear membranes form � cell membrane begins to pinch off � each end of cell has a nucleus and half of organelles Stage 6: Cytokinesis � cell membrane (and cell wall in plants) forms between nuclei � each cell makes more organelles � two cells that are identical to original � each cell goes back to stage one --> four identical cells --> eight, etc. |