The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

by Annie Murphy Paul

Chinnici published an account of his method in the journal The American Biology Teacher. He begins by distributing baseball caps and t-shirts, each of which has been marked with a letter representing a gene: uppercase letters for dominant genes, lowercase letters denoting recessive genes. Once they have donned these items of clothing, students are guided through a kind of carefully choreographed waltz. In prophase, some of the “human chromosomes” pair up by linking arms. In metaphase, those chromosomes who have remained unpaired move to an area designated as the “spindle.” On to anaphase, during which the paired-up students split apart and move to opposite poles of the spindle. Finally, they act out telophase, in which the spindle dissolves and the chromosomes unwind. Amid some awkward laughter and some momentarily furrowed brows, students find their way through this odd dance—seeing, and feeling, for themselves how the many moving parts interact. Chinnici’s study found that students who had engaged in role-playing mitosis and meiosis achieved a more accurate understanding of the concept—a result mirrored in other, similar studies.