One of the best ways to make sure you understand a concept is to build a model and use it to teach someone else. The steps below represent just one of the many ways you could build a model of mitosis. You can look on the Internet to find more ways. No matter which method you choose, be sure to refer to the phases of mitosis described in this lesson. You should also take pictures of your model at each state of the process.
| Preparation | Build some chromosomes (strands of DNA) by stringing together red and white beads. Find eight objects of the same color to represent centromeres, and four small tubes of different colors to use as centrioles. Use string or heavy thread to represent spindle fibers. Use the surface where you are building your model as the cell itself. Use a round or oval piece of paper to represent the nucleus. |
| Prophase | Use four colored tubes to represent the centrioles. Thread the strings representing spindle fibers through the holes of the tubes and move them to either side of the the cell. Remember that in this phase, the centrioles move to opposite poles of the cell. Remove the paper to represent the breakdown of the nuclear envelope or membrane. |
| Metaphase | Remove the string from the separated centrioles. Connect the string to the four pairs of sister chromatids in the center of the table. Move the four pairs of sister chromatids along the equator of the cell, or the middle line of the table top. You have now modeled the way spindle fibers line up the four duplicated chromosomes along the equator or middle line of the cell. |
| Anaphase | Locate each pair of sister chromatids. Start moving them towards opposite ends of the cell. Four sister chromatids will move to the left, and four will move to the right. At this point, the strands are single chromosomes that are ready to be allocated to two new daughter cells. Along the string (the spindle fibers) drag four chromosomes to one side and four to the other. |
| Telophase | Completely move the two sets of chromosomes to opposite poles of the cell. Take two round or oval pieces of paper and place these sheets under the chromosomes at either end of the table. These sheets represent the two new nuclear membranes that have just formed. When cytokinesis occurs, you end up with two cells whose nuclei are represented by the chromosomes on the two sheets of paper. |
Don't forget to take pictures of all your steps--or shoot a video of the entire process. If you take pictures, you can paste them into a word document or slide show presentation, or you can name the image files step 1, step 2, etc. and submit them as images.
Click the Activity button below to download a printable version of this worksheet.
