Overview | How can animations help convey the dynamic nature of cellular processes? What can we learn from animation that cannot be learned as easily from still images? In this lesson, students watch high-definition animations that depict the processes of DNA transcription and translation, and then write voice-over scripts.
Materials | Science textbooks, computers with Internet access, projection equipment
Warm-Up | Show the animation “The Inner Life of the Cell.”
Afterward, ask: What is this video about? What clues give you that idea? Do you recognize any of the structures highlighted in the video? If you had to write a paragraph describing this animation, what would you write?
Next, show the Times video “The Animators of Life”:
Note that in the video, Robert A. Lue says: “If you were flying in the mitochondria, it would be like flying over the Grand Canyon. It would be the most spectacular landscape you can imagine.” Ask: How does his use of language differ from other descriptions you have read of cells and organelles? How does the kind of animation that he describes, and that you saw in the video, change the way you think of cells?
You may wish to pause and rewind the video to give students time to jot down the colorful words and phrases, and even the body language, Dr. Lue uses to describe the mitochondria.
Related | In the article “Where Cinema and Biology Meet,” Erik Olsen reports on the growing field of scientific animation:
Dr. Lue is one of the pioneers of molecular animation, a rapidly growing field that seeks to bring the power of cinema to biology. Building on decades of research and mountains of data, scientists and animators are now recreating in vivid detail the complex inner machinery of living cells.
The field has spawned a new breed of scientist-animators who not only understand molecular processes but also have mastered the computer-based tools of the film industry.
“The ability to animate really gives biologists a chance to think about things in a whole new way,” said Janet Iwasa, a cell biologist who now works as a molecular animator at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Iwasa says she started working with visualizations when she saw her first animated molecule five years ago. “Just listening to scientists describe how the molecule moved in words wasn’t enough for me,” she said. “What brought it to life was really seeing it in motion.”
Read the entire article with your class, using the questions below.
Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:
- What is molecular animation?
- What are some of the cellular processes molecular animators have shown?
- What benefits are there in using molecular animation to show cellular processes?
- What are some of the challenges in developing accurate animations of molecular processes?
- How do scientists think visualizations such as animation will change science education? Do you think this is a helpful new direction in teaching science concepts?
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Activity | Tell students that they will view an unnarrated animation of either DNA transcription or translation, two of the initial steps involved in making proteins. Working in small groups, they will write scripts to accompany the animations. To do this, they will need to refer to the material their textbook provides on these two processes. They also may find current information on transcription and translation in the Scitable e-book “Essentials of Genetics.”
To get started, first show students the animation “The Immune System – Fighting Infection by Clonal Selection,” which illustrates how the immune system fights off a strep throat infection.
Ask: How does the narration complement the animation? How does the animator use sound effects to enhance the video? Do these special effects enhance your learning? Or do you find them distracting? Have students pay attention to the timing of narration, noticing, for example, when the narrator pauses as animation proceeds. They might use this video as an example of one way in which to narrate their animations on transcription and translation.
Or, they might take a more entertaining, adventure-based approach to their narration, using an animation like “Molecules to the Max” as inspiration. They may even choose to write songs like They Might Be Giants’s “Meet the Elements” or the “Large Hadron Rap” to accompany the animations, as long as they are scientifically accurate.
Next, divide the class into pairs or small groups. Have half of the groups view “DNA Central Dogma Part 1: Transcription” and the other half view “DNA Central Dogma Part 2: Translation.” Tell them that their task will be to write a script to accompany the animation they have been assigned.
As students watch the videos, ask them to identify and sketch in their journals the following structures as depicted in the animation (they may need to also refer to their textbook or other resources to accomplish this task):
Messenger RNA (mRNA)
Transfer RNA (tRNA)
They should identify and refer to these structures in the scripts they write.
Allow ample time for students to watch the videos, rewinding and replaying as needed, and develop their scripts. Encourage them to use lively language in their scripts, and, as they develop them, to practice narrating them as the animations play.
When scripts are complete, have students “perform” them as voice-overs for the class as the animation plays.
When all students have presented their scripts, reconvene the class. Show them the animations from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute on DNA transcription and scene (at least the beginning of the scene, plus a few seconds at around minute nine) to which Dr. Lue refers. Ask: What similarities do you see, if any, between the Death Star and a cell? Do you think Dr. Lue might have used this scene as inspiration for some of the animated visualizations of the cell he produces today? How?
Going Further | For a different perspective on using video to teach science concepts, show students “Protein Synthesis: An Epic on the Cellular Level,” a 1971 film about protein synthesis (recreated in 2006) — the same process they just wrote scripts for.
Ask: How did the filmmakers identify the key molecules and cellular structures in the process of translation? How did they show the dynamic nature of protein synthesis? What similarities do you see in this video and the animations you viewed in the lesson? Does dance, combined with narration, help you visualize cellular processes? Why or why not? How might you adapt this approach to produce an educational video on an aspect of cellular biology today?
Students interested in creating their own DNA-based dance (and dance video) might find further inspiration in the creation and performance of “The DNA Dance,” created at James Madison University based on the New York Times series “The DNA Age.”
And, to continue teaching the basics of protein synthesis, you may have students visit the University of Utah’s “Transcribe and Translate a Gene” interactive, where they create an mRNA transcript of a gene, then decode the corresponding amino acid sequence to build a protein.
1. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process
2. Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Life Skills: Life Work
2. Uses various information sources, including those of a technical nature, to accomplish specific tasks
Life Skills: Working with Others
1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group
4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills
4. Understands the principles of heredity and related concepts
5. Understands the structure and function of cells and organisms
4. Understands the nature of technological design
6. Understands the nature and uses of different forms of technology
5. Understands the characteristics and merits of one’s own artwork and the artwork of others