Encourage tinkering with ideas, relationships, connections. Set up situations where students have to find information not readily available in school texts. Provide opportunity for students to design open-ended explorations of the concept. Provide multiple options so students can plan a unique "proof" of learning.

DNA kit building paper/paste models candy models.

Objective: To have the students now build their own model of DNA which will allow them to visualize the helical formation and the way its structure permits replication and then how it serves as a template for mRNA in protein synthesis.

Activity: Just about every lab manual or teacher reference book has directions for students to build paper models of the nucleotide parts which can be assembled into a model of DNA. There are also some inexpensive, completely re-useable plastic kits for DNA/RNA modeling which have the advantage of twisting and showing a three-dimensional representation. It is also fun, and a bit more creative to let the students decide what material they'd like to use to make their model. Different kinds of candy has been a favored choice. They can use five different kinds of candy to represent each of the nitrogen bases, another type for the sugars and another for the phosphates. Gum drops work well!

Assessment: Quality of the model in its representation of the facts.