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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jun 08, 2004 by Biology Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
This is an interactive Shockwave tutorial that takes the students through the
stages of meiosis, concentrating on what happens to the chromosomes.This interactive simulation goes through the process of meiosis using two pairs
of homologous chromosomes. There is text included to explain each step, and the
user has control of how much time is spent with each step. The animation includes two multiple choice questions at the end to test student
comprehension. The tutorial is designed to be used by the student on their own
using a web browser and the Shockwave plug-in. |
| Learning Goals: |
Observe the stages of meiosis and test student's understanding of the end
products. Visualizing the chromosomes in motion often aids in understanding the process of
meiosis.
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| Target Student Population: |
High School and introductory college |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Basic genetics. It would be helpful if students had some idea of some of the "language" in advance: chromosomes, centromeres, spindles, etc.
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| Type of Material: |
Shockwave animation and quiz |
| Recommended Uses: |
Student review or in lecture.
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| Technical Requirements: |
Shockwave |
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| Strengths: |
- A quality shockwave animation of meiosis.
- Good graphics and runs smoothly.
- Interactive quiz.
- The simulation is good, and although crossing over is not shown per se, the portrayal of the chromosomes is accurate throughout.
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| Concerns: |
- Would be nice to have an animation of mitosis for comparisson.
- There are a few problems in the text with regard to facts and clarity. Two examples of fact problems: (1) It is implied that pairing of the homologs occurs long before crossing over whereas those two events are actually very intimately linked. (2) It is stated that no DNA synthesis occurs before the second division immediately following the statement that the centromeres duplicate to produce two centromeres per dyad. Centromeres are made of DNA and therefore DNA synthesis must occur in order for the centromeres to duplicate. An example of the clarity problem: many different sets of terms (bivalents, dyads, homologs, chromatids) are used to describe the chromosomes at different steps which could be made less confusing if the diagrams were labeled with those terms rather than just described.
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
Rating:     |
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| Strengths: |
- Good simulation, nicely interactive, can be used by a student individually or in a classroom
- An important topic in introductory biololgy courses and genetics.
- Interactive quiz tests conceptual understanding.
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| Concerns: |
- The written text needs some work to be clear enough to stand alone for
individual student review.
- Quiz is only two questions long.
- Not really very inquiry based.
- Would be difficult to make assignments for this site.
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
| Rating: |
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| Strengths: |
- Runs smoothly,
no bugs, good graphics, logical organziation.
- A good tool for students to review meiosis.
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| Concerns: |
- It wasn't clear that shockwave is required to run the site.
- There is no way to go back to the beginning until you've completed the entire simulation.
- The interactive quiz has only two questions and if you choose the wrong answer, you have to go all the way to the beginning to retry the question.
- When you click "I'm finished" at the end, there is an error and no way to get back to the site from there (at least on my computer).
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