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BIOLOGY
Extra Credit Opportunities
Instructions (Read first!)
A total of 15 pts (extra credit) may be earned by a student in biology for science majors.
If a student has already earned up to 15 pts, then no more extra credit may be given to
the student. There are several opportunities to obtain the credit, each is listed below.
Enrichment credit points will be added to the total number of points earned in the lecture
and lab at the end of the course. Earning the maximum 15 extra credit points will result
in a 1.5% increase in the final course grade.
Extra Credit opportunities are due on the date indicated, or if no date is provided,
must be submitted in person to your instructor by the last day of lecture. Extra
credit submitted past due or the week of finals will NOT be accepted.
For each extra credit opportunity, you must follow the directions provided. If directions
are not followed, your instructor reserves the right to award partial or no points for the
assignment.
1. Build a Model of the Cell (3D; 5 pts )
• Construct a 3D model of a cell that includes all organelles discussed in class
• Also includes a detailed plasma membrane (lipid and protein components of
membrane discussed in class).
• Color must be used.
• Different materials are appreciated.
• Organelles should be labeled or a key should be provided so that it is very clear
what is what on your model.
• Name on project please.
Criteria for grading:
ü Organelles and cell membrane are accurately portrayed (in the correct areas,
shapes generally match what is in your textbook)
ü Creative use of materials
ü Organelles and cell membrane components clearly labeled
ü All organelles and cell membrane components are apparent/present
2. Cell Respiration/Photosynthesis Chart (4 pts )
• Assignment should be placed on a piece of poster board (try the Dollar Store or
Walmart). Avoid ones that are too bulky to carry but your drawings should be
bigger than 8.5 x 11 inches.
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• Include the ENTIRE biochemical process of Cell Respiration and place the
biochemical processes of Photosynthesis on the other side.
• Be sure to include the relevant organelles.
• Reactants and products of each step in the biochemical processes should be
indicated.
• Major Steps/stages/cycles should be clearly labeled as well
• Criteria for grading
ü All components of both Cell Respiration and Photosynthesis are present
ü Stages/steps and cycles clearly labeled and correctly placed with respect
to their organelles
ü Organelles present
ü Reactants and products clearly labeled and accurate
ü Color appreciated. Please complete in pen (you may want to start with
pencil first and then trace)
3. Case Studies on Cellular Biology (5 pts)
• You must complete both case studies for full credit.
• You can find the case studies at the end of this document
o Case Study 1: Embryonic Stem Cells
o Case Study 2: Cloning
• Answer ALL questions in each Case Study
• Be sure your answers are: thoughtful, insightful, detailed and make it apparent
that you have read both case studies.
• AND provide at least 2 sentences for EACH case study explaining their
relevance to what you are learning in class. In other words, you should relate the
case studies to what has been learned in lecture.
Ø Assignments with short/superficial answers and little insight will receive little or
no points.
4. Interview someone in the job field you are interested in pursuing.
(5pts)
Write a 2-page summary (double spaced) about what you learned from talking to the
person you interviewed.
• Provide all contact information (email and phone) so that I too may verify you
spoke with them.
• To receive all credit you must also obtain a letter from them indicating you spoke
with them. This letter must be signed by them as well and attached to your
paper.
• Questions to ask during the interview:
a. Ask them about likes/dislikes of the job.
b. How long have they been in the field?
c. What is the expected starting salary?
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d. What the educational requirements?
e. Were they planning on going into that field when they were in college?
• Criteria for grading: the summary should be 2 pages, interview verifiable and
information gathered by the student from the person interviewed should be
informative. It should be apparent to your instructor that you learned more about
the occupation you are interested in seeking.
5. Creativity Credit (up to 10 points)
Up to 10 points earned for projects that are creative, educational and demonstrate a
mastering of BIOL 1406 material
• Make a video (or music video J)
o At least 3 minutes but no longer than 5 minutes
o Try the Writing Center. They have free software for creating video and can
help you with this.
o Cannot be boring/documentary style
• Detailed Painting (framed or on Canvas)
• Sculpture (3D using various materials) or Model
• Animation (drawings or stop motion)
• Comic book (at least 10 pages of quality, ORIGINAL, hand-drawn artwork in
color) with captions, word/thought bubbles
Topic Possibilities for Creativity Credit:
• Mitosis vs. Meiosis (compare and contrast both, showing how chromosomes are
manipulated)
• Aerobic Cell Respiration pathway (whole thing including organelles involved)
• Photosynthesis (whole thing, including organelles)
• Endomembrane System and pathway (include transcription/translation)
General criteria for grading Creativity Credit
ü Work is NOT rushed and demonstrates substantial effort
ü Biologically accurate and thus educational
ü Shows outstanding creativity
ü Comic books should be in color
ü Videos should have you present in it (visual or audio) at some point. Dubbing
over existing videos not created by you is not allowed.
ü These cannot be done as group projects
Due Date: Last day of lecture
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Case Study 1: Embryonic Stem cells
Standing in the voting booth, Raina hesitated. It was November 2, 2004, and she had to
make her final decision on how to vote for California Proposition 71, the California Stem
Cell Research and Cures Initiative. Proposition 71, a $3 billion bond measure, would
fund embryonic stem (ES) cell research at facilities across the state for the next ten
years. Raina knew that Proposition 71 had widespread support, including that of
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and several Nobel Prize-winning scientists, but she
was also well aware of the controversy surrounding ES cell research. Well before
Election Day, Raina had taken the time to inform herself about the ongoing ES cell
debate. She learned that ES cell lines are obtained by removing a group of cells, called
the inner cell mass, from an embryo that is about five days old (also known as a
blastocyst), and growing the cells in a Petri dish. The cells are prized by researchers
because they are pluripotent, meaning that they have the potential to differentiate into a
wide range of different types of cells if properly stimulated. Proponents of ES cell
research say that such cells could be used to cure conditions such as Parkinson’s
disease, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and spinal cord
injuries. In addition, ES cells could be studied to help scientists understand the basic
processes of human development, and used to test new drugs. ES cell research
opponents say that it should be restricted because it requires the destruction of human
life. Raina found this issue to be one of great concern. She learned that the ES cell lines
currently used for research are obtained from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization
(IVF). These embryos are voluntarily donated, and otherwise would be discarded. Raina
wondered if embryos, even those so early in development, should be considered human
beings. If so, then producing an excess of them for IVF and then discarding them would
be wrong. Might it also be wrong to benefit from their sacrifice? Raina had read about
stem cells from other sources besides embryos. Some, known as embryonic germ cells,
may be obtained from aborted or miscarried fetuses, but this source is subject to the
same sort of controversy as ES cells. Some very promising results have come from
research using stem cells taken from the umbilical cord and placenta, and adult tissues
such as bone marrow and parts of the brain. In fact, some of these non-embryonic cells
have already been used to treat medical conditions, including blood disorders, spinal
cord injury and heart attack damage. Such stem cells are obtained without harming
embryos or fetuses, and for this reason their use meets with few ethical objections.
However, they appear to be more limited in their ability to differentiate than ES cells.
Finally, after weighing the arguments one last time, Raina cast her ballot. The next day,
she learned that Proposition 71 had passed with 59% of the vote. Now it is possible that
similar initiatives may appear on the ballots of other states.
Question 1. How do you think Raina voted on Proposition 71? How would you have
voted? Why?
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Question 2. Do you think that a five-day-old embryo should be accorded the status of a
human person? If not, why not? If so, do the potential benefits of ES cell research
outweigh the ethical objections? Explain.
Question 3. In August 2001, President George W. Bush approved the use of federal
funding for ES cell research, but only on cell lines already in existence, in order to avoid
the destruction of additional human embryos. (ES cell research funding from other
sources was unaffected.) Critics say that existing ES cell lines have only a limited
lifespan before their usefulness for research is lost, and that the number of available
lines is insufficient. Do you agree or disagree with President Bush’s decision? Explain.
Case Study 2: Cloning
In December 2004, a tabby kitten named Little Nicky made headlines for being the first
cloned-to-order pet in the United States. The original Nicky was a cat that died at the
age of 17 years. His owner, Julie, chose to have some of Nicky’s tissue “banked” so that
he could be cloned. The company that produced Little Nicky, California-based Genetic
Savings & Clone, Inc., also funded the creation of the very first cloned cat, CC, in 2002,
and made the first cloned pet cats, Tabouli and Baba Ganoush, in the United Kingdom
earlier in 2004. Cloning pets should be a very profitable business indeed: Little Nicky
cost Julie $50,000. How do you make a clone like Little Nicky? The first mammal to be
cloned from a somatic (body) cell of an adult was Dolly the sheep. She was made in
1996 at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, using a technique called somatic cell nuclear
transfer. In this technique, the nucleus of a cell from a donor’s body is combined with an
enucleated egg (one with its nucleus removed) from a female of the same species, and
the resulting cell is stimulated to start dividing and grow into an embryo. The embryo is
then placed in the uterus of a surrogate mother to continue its development. Although
additional sheep, as well as pigs, cattle, goats, horses, rabbits, and mice, have been
cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer, one problem with this method is the low
survival rate. Most embryos do not survive long enough to be implanted in a surrogate
mother. And of those that do, almost one-quarter of the clones born have health
problems so severe that they do not reach adulthood. These problems are thought to
stem from the fact that the donor cell has already differentiated, and as a result its
nuclear material is structurally different from that in a fertilized egg with respect to
associated proteins. Some of the proteins associated with the nuclear chromatin may
get carried over to the enucleated egg, where they interfere with development. CC was
made using somatic cell nuclear transfer, but most consumers probably would not opt
for this technique for cloning their pets because of its low success rate. In 2003, a new
cloning technology known as chromatin transfer became available. In chromatin
transfer, the chromatin is made to condense, much as it would prior to cell division. The
condensed chromatin is treated to remove any extraneous materials prior to being
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injected into the enucleated egg. This method has resulted in a greater rate of cloning
success, and was used to create Tabouli, Baba Ganoush, and Little Nicky. It is likely
that there will be many more cloned pets. In fact, Genetic Savings & Clone looks to
clone up to 50 cats over the next year, and plans to include dogs in the near future.
Question 1. What are some of the reasons an individual might give for having a pet
cloned? Cost aside, would you choose to have a pet of yours cloned? Why or why not?
Question 2. The first cloned cat, CC, looks different from her genetic donor, Rainbow,
due to a well-understood complication involved in cloning a calico cat. The two also
reportedly have different personality traits. On the other hand, Little Nicky, Tabouli, and
Baba Ganoush look like their donors, and their owners claim that their personalities are
identical. What do you think cloning may teach us about the roles of nature and nurture
in development?
Question 3. Critics of Genetic Savings & Clone and its customers say there is no
justification for having a pet cloned when so many dogs and cats are being euthanized
because no one will adopt them. Do you agree or disagree with this point of view?
Explain.
