The Summer Science Club is a collection of fun kid-friendly science experiments and STEM projects explained.
As school ends millions of kids are released from a strict schedule of learning and innovating. As a kid who grew up with a science teacher mom and an engineering dad, I spent my summers doing science experiments and STEM projects. I came out of every summer with many new skills and knowledge of the world around me. Now, working with young kids at the library and babysitting kids, I teach these experiments to others.
The simple explanation for what makes up every living organism is DNA. It is the genetic code for your makeup and is the description of everything about you. It's the instructions for you like a code or blueprint. DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic. You Can't see it without a very very strong microscope, but Dr. James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the shape of it looks like a twisting ladder. The ladder is made up of four different chemicals called nucleotides that are paired to make the rungs. These four chemicals are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. These four chemicals are in lines and scientists write them as ATC TGA GGA AAT and so on. Groups of these makeup genes that are the description of everything about you. The color of your hair and your eyes are all determined by your genes.
Your body is made up of cells. Those cells contain chromosomes that look like Xs and Ys. Your DNA is stored in your chromosomes. The number of Xs and Ys determines if you are a biological male or female. You have two sets of chromosomes. You get one from your biological mother and your biological father. A slight difference in your chromosomes from the “normal” amount can mean a genetic condition like Down Syndrome, Cystic fibrosis, and many more.
We can't see DNA without a very special microscope, but to better understand the chemicals and parts of DNA we can model it with candy.
You need four different colors of gummy bears (red, yellow, green, and orange), twizzlers, and toothpicks. The four different colors of gummy bears represent AGTC, or adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The twizzlers represent the sugar-phosphate backbone of the DNA. It holds everything together.
Put two different colored gummy bears on a toothpick. After you have eight toothpicks with gummy bears on them stick the toothpicks into the twizzlers. When you twist the twizzlers to make the double helix shape. This is your DNA. The fun thing about this experiment is unlike your actual DNA you can eat it.
Work Cited
“What Is DNA? (for Kids) | Nemours KidsHealth.” Kids Health, https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/word-dna.html. Accessed 5 August 2024.
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