Step One
Print off your table (next page) and mentally separate each word into its base word and the prefix.
Step Two
Highlight/list each prefix. Five of them will be attached to the base word −phase. The sixth will have the base word −kinesis, which is related to kinetic.
Step Three
Look up each prefix in the dictionary (or refer to where the word is explained in the Explore section of the lesson). Write the meaning of each prefix on the appropriate line on the worksheet. Also look up kinesis or kinetic.
Note: Each prefix will have numerous definitions. Read all the definitions and choose the one or two that best fit with the action in the cell during the mitosis phase being defined.
Step Four
Write a brief and simple sentence describing what happens in each phase, including what happens to each chromosome. For example, in interphase, the cell is between the times in which it undergoes mitosis. The chromosomes copy their own genetic material so that each chromosome ends up with two identical copies of its DNA in two identical chromatids (one copy in each chromatid).
Step Five
Highlight the similar words that you find in the dictionary definition and that you use in the sentences about each phase, as between is highlighted above. You should be able to find several identical or similar words.
Step Six
Use these similar words to help you remember what happens in each phase of mitosis.
Step Seven
Finally, suppose that a cell has four chromosomes and is at interphase. Fill in the columns to indicate how many copies of the genetic material there are in each chromosome, how many chromatids are in each chromosome, how many chromosomes there are total, how many cells there are, and how many chromosomes are in each cell.
Step Eight
Use your table to answer the assignment questions.
Assignment: The Meaning of Mitosis Exploration
Answer these questions. Save in your notes.
1. What is mitosis?
2. Why is mitosis important to all living things?
3. What are the four phases of mitosis?
4. At what phase of the cell cycle does the genetic material double?
5. At what phase of mitosis does the number of chromosomes double?
6. At what phase of mitosis does the amount of genetic material in each chromosome become half of what it just was?
7. During what process in the cell cycle does one cell become two cells?
