High School Education Module


Here is a copy of the Astrobiology lesson entitled A Clay-Catalyzed RNA Polymerization Activity. This activity is intended to be used to illustrate how RNA oligomers may have formed on early earth. Because no one really knows how this happened, much of what would usually be included in a traditional chemistry lesson, for example, is not outlined here. (Also, I must tell you, I am a biology teacher!) This activity is really meant to be a simulation of how this process could have happened, so that students have an idea that it is indeed possible. That being said, I need your help. Please look over the materials and see if you think they would be useful in your classroom. It would be great for me to get any feedback you might have. Please make notes and/or suggestion on the materials themselves and send them back to me by mail, or email me with your comments.

There are plans for development of a math-related extension activity which would incorporate the mathematics of the attraction of various sizes of RNA oligomers as they grow on the clay crystal.

A wet lab where students would be performing the actual lab (with activated RNA monomers and prepared clay) is being developed. Conditions for the analysis of the RNA oligomers by TLC is ongoing.

Billie Jean Marks
Cyrstall Springs Uplands School
400 Uplands Drive
Hillsborough, CA 94010
650 342-4175 x568
bmark@csus.com

Click on each link below for the various segments of the lesson.
 
 
Segments

Segment 1 - Astrobiology. Clay-Catalyzed RNA Polymerization Activity
Level: Grades 9 - 12
Clay-Catalyzed RNA Polymerization Activity

Segment 2 - Clay and the Origins of Life
Clay and the Origins of Life

Segment 3 - From Building Blocks to the Polymers of Life
From Building Blocks to the Polymers of Life

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Center for Studies of Origins of Life, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY 12180
http://www.origins.rpi.edu
Email: Origins of Life