Who Ate the Cheese?

Activity Summary
Students are given a scenario in which someone steals a very expensive block of cheese from Queen Elizabeth. They then use paper DNA sequences cut with restriction enzymes to determine the thief from 4 suspects.

Grade Levels
9-12

Learning Objectives
1. Describe the role of restriction enzymes in DNA
2. Identify banding patterns found in agarose gel electrophoresis

Lesson Materials (view or download)
Lesson Plan
DNA Worksheet

Keywords
gel electrophoresis, DNA fingerprinting, forensics, crime solving, restriction enzyme

Last updated: 3/2/2015