Understanding Amino Acids Using Prezi and ChemDraw

Keisha Cropp
Tenth Grade Chemistry

Common Core Standards:

C.PM.1: Atomic Structure

Interpreting and communicating science concepts
Demonstrating science knowledge

C.PM.3: Chemical Bonding

Designing technological/engineering solutions using science concepts

C.PM.4: Representing compounds

Models and shapes

C.IM.1: Chemical Reactions

Acids/Bases

Lesson Summary:

The main idea of this lesson is to gain and build knowledge of the 20 amino acids. A lesson on amino acids
will be given on the first day and the remaining days will be spent in groups researching and presenting. In
this lesson, I also want to teach students about working as a team and knowing how to divide responsibilities
to be responsible. Each group will research 4 amino acids and create a presentation using the web
application Prezi. They will also draw each amino acid structure using an app called ChemDraw. They will
then export these structures into their presentations. In the presentation, students are expected to have the
name, structure, and real-life example of each amino acid. When the lesson is concluded with the group
presentations, each student will know all 20 amino acids, their names and abbreviations, how to illustrate
them, and where they can be found in the real world.

Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take about 6-8 hours with additional hours needed outside of the classroom. My plan is to
divide this lesson over 5 school days, or 5 periods lasting 50 minutes each.
Commentary:

Since there are 20 amino acids, memorizing all 20 can be difficult. Therefore, I want to use my lesson to
make learning the 20 amino acids more fun and easier to remember. Having students work in groups, they
will not only be learning the lesson at hand, but they will also learn how to manage others and work as a
team, which will make them more successful in the future. Although students will be learning to work in
groups, I do anticipate this as a challenge because of attendance and lack of excitement for the lesson. I also
anticipate students not understanding how to use the app ChemDraw and the website Prezi. Lastly, I
anticipate students not wanting to learn about the amino acids because there is a lot of information to
memorize, so I will reinforce that they will have to focus on 4 amino acids at a time, rather than all 20. I will
also try to “hook” them by giving them a sequence of 12 amino acids and the amino acid coding chart and
the student who decodes the amino acid sequence the fastest will win 5 bonus points on the test at the end of
the lesson.

Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:
For the first 20 minutes of the lesson, I will review amino acids and why they are important. I will discuss
the parameters of the assignment and what is to be expected each day. I will pass out rubrics and split the
class into 5 groups.
The next 20 minutes of the class period will be spent on the pre-assessment. I will first pass out sheets of
paper and ask the students to name as many of the amino acids as they can. They will do this for 7 minutes. I
will then pass out an amino acid coding chart and a sequence of 12 amino acids. The students will have 5
minutes to complete this portion of pre-assessment. For the final 8 minutes, I will review all 20 amino acids,
having other members of the groups grade their peers work. I will do this for the amino acid sequence also.
The student who gets the most right on both assessments will earn 5 bonus points on their exam at the end of
the lesson.
For the final 10 minutes of the class period, each group will have time to discuss their game plans and what
each of them will be working on over the next few class periods.

Day 2:
This is the day the students will begin working on presentations. My goal for the end of this class period is
for each group to have at least 1 amino acid drawn.
I will spend the first 10 minutes of class showing the students how to use ChemDraw and Prezi. I will give a
quick overview because throughout the class period, I will be going group to group answering their
questions and giving the groups personalized feedback,
For the remaining 40 minutes of the class period, the students will work in their groups, learning to draw the
amino acid and putting their drawing into Prezi. Each student will have the chance to draw an amino acid in
ChemDraw.
During the 40 minutes of class time, I will spend approximately 8 minutes with each group answering their
questions and giving them feedback on where they should be and what their schedule should look like over
the next few days. I will also give them an assignment this day. Their assignment is to bring in 1 question
they have for me about amino acids or the assignment that I can answer for them the next class period.

Day 3:
Today’s class period will be spent entirely on the student’s presentations. Student’s will come right into the
classroom, grab a laptop, and continue working on their presentations.
I will spend 10 minutes with each group making sure they are on the right track with their presentations. By
the end of today’s class period, they should have a total of 3 amino acids drawn and in their presentations.
Each group should have started their Prezi.
The homework for today is to start on the fourth amino acid of their presentation. I will also give them a
worksheet where they must write down the name an abbreviation of each amino acid. The worksheet will
have their structures, and the students must identify their structure and their name and abbreviation.

Day 4:
This will be the final day the students can work on their presentation. By the end of the class period I will
have them submit their assignments. However, if some groups need more time, I will extend the deadline to
midnight that night.
Today I will spend another 10 minutes with each group answering their questions about their presentations
tomorrow. I will also give them the presentation timeline. Any group that is already finished with their
presentation will spend this class period studying in their groups. I will prepare handouts similar to the
homework from the previous night. For the groups that are not finished, I will also give them the handout as
practice. This handout will not be graded, it will just be a way for the students to be more prepared for the
exam.

Day 5:
All 50-miuntes of this class period will be spent on presentations. I will have the presentations already ready
to go for each group because they will have had to send me their completed presentation the night before.
Each group will have 10-minutes to present. Each student in the group must speak at least once in order to
receive credit. This is a way for the students to become more comfortable with public speaking.
I will assign homework this day also. Each student will have to write a summary of their project and what
they liked and disliked. This is also a space for the student to talk about their presentation experience and
who cooperated and who didn’t. This assignment will not be graded, it will be used as a way to interpret how
the lesson worked and if the students enjoyed it or not. Students will also be preparing for their end of lesson
exam coming up the next day.

Day 6:
Although the final day of the teaching and presenting of the lesson is already over, I am going to use this 50-
minute period to assess what the students have learned by giving them an exam that should last the entirety
of the period. Each student should have the knowledge to name, abbreviate, draw, and decode and write
sequences for each of the 20 amino acids.
Pre-Assessment:

Before the lesson, I will have each student write down as many of the 20 amino acids that they know. Then,
I will give each student an amino acid coding chart and a sequence of 12 amino acids. The students will have
to decode the amino acids. This pre-assessment will act as a way to get students excited about the lesson, and
it will act as a way for me to know how much the students already know about the lesson. This lesson will
come shortly after knowing about proteins. Therefore, the students will have learned about the big picture,
and this lesson will focus on the smaller pieces.

Scoring Guidelines:
I will grade the list the students write by the spelling and identification of each amino acid. I will not
give a number grade, but I will save the lists until the end of the lesson so as a class we can compare
how they did in the beginning of the lesson versus the end of the lesson. On the second part of the
pre-assessment, I will grade them by having them read back their sequence. Whoever gets the correct
sequence the fastest will win 5 bonus points on their test at the end of the lesson.

Everyday throughout the lesson I will spend 5 minutes with each group at the beginning of the period asking
them about their progress and asking about what they plan on working on throughout the class period. On
day 3 of the project, I will have a 10-minute check-in so students can ask questions about the presentation
the following day.

Post-Assessment:
There will be 2 post-assessment assignments.
The first will be the presentation of their group projects. Each presentation will last 7-10 minutes. The
presentations will occur on last day of the lesson. Students will hand in a 1-page report on what they learned
from the lesson, how they would change the lesson, and how they rank the participation of each of their
group members.
The second assignment will be a 25-question in-class exam. The exam will be split into 4 sections: naming
amino acids, drawing amino acids, using the code chart to translate the names of amino acids, and using the
code chart to decode an amino acid sequence. The exam will be taken the day after the lesson concludes.

Scoring Guidelines:
The presentation grading will follow a rubric previously given to the students. Each presentation
must include the names and abbreviations, structure, characteristics, and example of their 4 assigned
amino acids. It also must be at least 7 minutes long, but no longer than 10 minutes. The 1-page report
will not be graded, it will act as a way for each student to reflect on the presentation, and it will give
me insight on how the group worked together and how I can make the lesson better in the future.
The exam will be graded on a point system. The exam will be a total of 100 points, and I will assign
points to each section.
Naming the amino acids: 10 questions, 20 points
Drawing amino acids: 4 questions, 20 points
Translating amino acids: 6 questions, 30 points
 Decoding amino acids: 5 questions, 30 points
Each section’s points are assigned by the difficulty of the section.

Differentiated Instructional Support

In this assignment, students must use ChemDraw to draw the structures of the amino acids. For a student
struggling with the material, I will allow them to use an illustration of the amino acid from the internet.
However, I will ask them to turn in a hand-drawn illustration of the amino acid in addition. This way I can
make sure they are still getting an opportunity to understand the material and how to draw the amino acid
structure.
For a student who is gifted or accelerated, I will assign them to drawing 5 amino acid structures (in addition
to the 4 they are assigned to with the group presentation) with ChemDraw. They will also have to create 5
amino acid sequences. Having the students create these sequences and draw the structures will give them
more practice with the application and it will give them practice creating and translating amino acids.

Extension
https://www.dartmouth.edu/~welderco/chemdraw%20introduction.pdf
This is a link to instructions on how to use ChemDraw. This is a short summary on how to use ChemDraw
effectively. I think this is a great link for the students because all of their questions can be answered with this
link.
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Use-Prezi/
The link above is to a site that has step-by-step instructions on how to use Prezi. Since some of the
presentation will be completed as homework, the students can benefit from this website by using it when
they have questions that I cannot answer immediately.
http://pepdraw.com
Pep draw is a website where a student can create their own amino acid sequence. After creating the
sequence, the website will draw the peptide and give the mass, charge, length, and other information.
Students can benefit from using this website because it can give them a better understanding of the
sequences. It will also give them an idea of what the amino acid structure would look like.

Homework Options and Home Connections

At home students will continue work on their parts of the group presentations. Most of the work will be done
in the classroom in case a student does not have internet access at home. All ChemDraw assignments will be
done in class, but the research and Prezi work will be done both inside and outside of the classroom. Also,
students will be encouraged and assigned to study the 20 amino acids for their exam at the end of the lesson.
Their 1-page report must also be typed and emailed or printed, which should be completed at home.
Interdisciplinary Connections
Students can bring their knowledge from this lesson into their biology class. Knowing about the amino acids
will help their understanding of the cell and structures inside the cell, such as ribosomes and proteins.
In addition, the students’ knowledge from this lesson can be integrated into social sciences because of their
group work. Students are learning to collaborate with others and dividing work amongst themselves.
Also, students are learning to write summaries of their work, which can be integrated into their English
class. They should already know how to summarize a novel, but now the students will also know how to
summarize what they learn in a science class.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers Smartboard, laptop, worksheets, lined paper, coding charts, ChemDraw account, Prezi
account, printed exams, presentation rubrics
Students will need to see how to use Prezi and ChemDraw before they start their own
presentations. Using a smartboard to project a screen recording will help students
understand what they are expected to do.

For students Smartboard, laptop, worksheets, lined paper, coding charts, ChemDraw account, Prezi
account, presentation rubrics

Key Vocabulary
Amino acid, side chain, r-group, protein, carboxyl group, codon, aliphatic, aromatic, acid, base, hydroxylic,
amidic, hydrophilic, hydrophobic, peptide bond

Additional Notes

I tried my hardest to incorporate technology into my lesson. I was having a hard time finding technology that
can be used in a science classroom. I would love to see more subject specific assignments in the class!