DNA

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/dna

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is DNA?Approximately 3 billion base pairs
2. What is the scientific name?Deoxyribonucleic acid
3. What is the discoverers of double helix structure?James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins
4. What is DNA and why is it important?DNA is a tiny instruction book inside every cell that tells your body how to grow and work. It carries the genetic information needed for development, growth, and reproduction.
5. How does DNA look like?DNA is shaped like a twisted ladder called a double helix. Each rung is made of two bases that always pair together: adenine (A) with thymine (T) and guanine (G) with cytosine (C).

Double Helix: The characteristic spiral staircase-like structure of DNA, formed by two complementary polynucleotide strands.
Gene: A specific segment of DNA that carries the instructions for building a protein or functional RNA molecule.
Gene Expression: The process by which the information encoded in a gene is used to synthesize a functional gene product, typically a protein.