The concept of biotechnology and its practical application is much more emphasized in the fifth curriculum than in the fourth and further intensified contents are supposed to be introduced in the sixth.
Especially highschool biology in Japan, the con...
The concept of biotechnology and its practical application is much more emphasized in the fifth curriculum than in the fourth and further intensified contents are supposed to be introduced in the sixth.
Especially highschool biology in Japan, the contents on the biotechnology are recorded for the students to experiment and the future natural science is expected to develop brilliantly in a field of biotechnology. Therefore, students' experiments on gene insertion, transformation, tissue culture and so on, for their understanding of biotechnology concepts, are thought to stimulate curiosities their and extend their spirit of inquiry.
This study is meant as an teaching aid, and reaches the following conclusions on the basis of the results of the biotechnology contents introduced in the fifth highschool biology texts and those of basic experiments on the transformation from explant to hairy root.
The characteristic of basic experiments on hairy root growth used by Agrobacteriurm tumefacieus, Agrobacterium rhizogenes is that the observation is easy, since the transformational object is a visible root.
The experiments are likely to be introduced without difficulty for highschool biotechnology concepts, since the transformation is easily proved by the GUS activation test.
The germs used in experiments don't cause other diseases except forming hairy roots in infected parts, so they can be treated in school laboratories without outside interferance.
Almost all schools are equipped with the complex materials needed for biotechnology experiments and kanamycin and claforan, just a little quantity of which is needed, can be purchased at a low price.
The instruments can be replaced with the preequipped ones in school, only the temporary growthchamber needs to be devised.
though there are difficulties in biotechnology experiments because of unsufficient condition in laboratories or classes made up of a large number of students, it is very important for the students to have opportunities to form biotechnology concepts through experiments.
To promote curiosity and interest in natural science in this way can be helpful in national basic science development.