When
the first detailed annotations of the human genome appeared in
February 2001, I realized that the search tools now available
on the web have become so advanced that they are actually beginning
to get "easy" to use.When
the first detailed annotations of the human genome appeared in
February 2001, I realized that the search tools now available
on the web have become so advanced that they are actually beginning
to get "easy" to use.
With that in mind, the next month I gave my college freshmen at Brown a novel assignment: A Genome Scavenger Hunt. Each student was given a sealed envelope with a DNA sequence or a description of a gene, and asked to locate the sequence in the genome and answer a series of questions about it. To help my students go about their searches, I also prepared a brief guide to three of the best search tools now available for the genome.
Thinking that this assignment might be interesting for for high school teachers to try with some of their students (especially if their classrooms have internet access), I thought I would place copies of the guide and my student assignments on the web. You are free to copy and distribute these materials for educational purposes as you wish:
| Human Genome Search
Guide Scavenger Hunt Assignments |
I hope you enjoy this exercise, and I welcome your comments and suggestions!
Ken Miller
Professor of Biology
Brown University