Students act the parts of the major players in mitosis. In this model, I used the classroom walls as the cell membrane - not enough students to have a human cell membrane, but that would be a nice addition.
Two girls represent sister chromatids of a maternal chromosome.
Two boys represent the sister chromatids of the paternal homolog (yes, they were upset at playing the role of sisters, and refused to touch each other (lock arms) to represent the centromere connection - boys!).
A group of students form a nuclear membrane around the chromosomes.
Two students stand outside the nucleus to represent the centrioles that will migrate to the poles. I used twine to represent the spindle fibers.
Teacher calls out the phases of mitosis, students enact the events.
Prophase - nuclear membrane "breaks down" (students disperse into the "cytoplasm" of the cell). In a real cell, the chromosomes would become visible, but in the model the students can't exactly be invisible and then appear - Oh the limitations of models!
Metaphase - chromosomes line up along the equator (middle of classroom), centrioles migrate to poles (front & back of the room).
Anaphase - spindle fibers attach to centromeres (students have to use hands for this part), begin to pull chromatids toward poles.
Telophase - nuclear membranes re-form around the chromosomes at each pole, forming two new nuclei. Each nucleus now contains an unduplicated paternal chromosome and an unduplicated maternal chromosome.
Repeat. Try to make it a smooth uninterrupted process, fluid. It's a nice reinforcement of the concepts. Have students as much as possible plan the activity. Plan ahead and have students wear color-coded clothing for an even more dramatic effect. A nice open space obviously helps.
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