Week 4 — Spend It, Make It, Read It: An ATP and Gene-Decoding Report

Assignment 4 of the term — pay for work with ATP, do the glycolysis bookkeeping, decode a gene, and put a sprint's burn into plain words for someone new to anatomy and physiology.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based report. You stay the author: the coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it writes its report. Week 2 gave you ATP as a molecule and proteins as chains of amino acids, and Week 3 gave you the mitochondrion, the ribosome, and the pump that spends ATP; this week you open those job descriptions. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and A&P Lab & Inquiry work the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

This week's shared dataset is Dataset D, the gene decoded. The DNA template strand, read 3′ to 5′, is TAC CGA GTA TTC CCA ATT; its mRNA, read 5′ to 3′, is AUG GCU CAU AAG GGU UAA; and the standard codon table reads it as Met–Ala–His–Lys–Gly, then stop. Glycolysis, in the cytoplasm, makes 4 ATP and uses 2 for each glucose, and the sodium-potassium pump moves 3 sodium ions out and 2 potassium ions in per ATP. The glucose counts in the problems are illustrative.

Work these four problems, showing your arithmetic:

1. The sodium-potassium pump moves 3 sodium ions out and 2 potassium ions in for each ATP it spends. If it spends 2 ATP, how many ions does it move in all, out and in together?
2. Glycolysis makes 4 ATP and uses 2 ATP for each glucose. For an illustrative cell that runs glycolysis on 3 glucose, what is its net gain of ATP?
3. The pinned mRNA has 6 codons, and each codon is 3 bases long. How many bases does the mRNA carry?
4. The pinned mRNA has 6 codons, and its last codon, UAA, is a stop codon that adds no amino acid. How many amino acids does translation build from it?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: say what each ATP becomes as it releases energy, and explain why ATP works as spendable currency rather than a battery stored for days.
• Problem 2: say where glycolysis happens and whether it needs oxygen, and explain why 4 is the gross figure and not the net.
• Problem 3: say where transcription happens, and explain why the mRNA carries U where the template carries A and never carries a T.
• Problem 4: say where translation happens and name the chain the codon table gives, and explain why the stop codon adds no amino acid.

Explain it to a non-expert

A teammate asks, "Why do my legs burn when I sprint one lap, but not when I jog four easy laps?" Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains what ATP is in everyday words, what happens to pyruvate when oxygen is short, and why the oxygen-using route makes far more ATP. Name one limit, for example that the total ATP per glucose is an estimate taught in words, or that this message is about how cells work and not about anyone's health. Put any technical term in everyday words. More than one good message is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a friend who asks why a cell copies a gene instead of using the DNA directly. Model answer: "Think of the DNA as a cookbook that never leaves a locked library, the nucleus. When the cell needs one protein, it copies that one recipe onto a card, called messenger RNA, and carries the card out to the kitchen, the ribosome, where the protein is built. The book stays safe, and the card can be read wherever the work happens. This is a classroom picture, a simplification, and it does not explain how a cell decides which recipe to copy."

Use that pattern for the sprint message, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief interpretations, and your message to your teammate before you open a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach asks for your draft and then works one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show calculations when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one calculation or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Keep going until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It draws out your reasoning; it does not write the report for you.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for a first-semester anatomy and physiology course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about cellular energy and protein synthesis. Do not write my assignment for me and do not invent work I never did. Never invent a measurement, a study, an exact total of ATP per glucose, or a codon assignment, and never offer medical advice or comment on anyone's health.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: Dataset D, the gene decoded (DNA template 3' to 5' TAC CGA GTA TTC CCA ATT; mRNA 5' to 3' AUG GCU CAU AAG GGU UAA; Met-Ala-His-Lys-Gly, then stop); glycolysis makes 4 ATP and uses 2 per glucose, in the cytoplasm, with no oxygen needed; the sodium-potassium pump moves 3 sodium ions out and 2 potassium ions in per ATP. Codons come only from the standard table: AUG = Met (start), GCU = Ala, CAU = His, AAG = Lys, GGU = Gly; UAA, UAG, UGA = stop.
PROBLEM P1: The sodium-potassium pump moves 3 sodium ions out and 2 potassium ions in for each ATP it spends. If it spends 2 ATP, how many ions does it move in all, out and in together?
PROBLEM P2: Glycolysis makes 4 ATP and uses 2 ATP for each glucose. For an illustrative cell that runs glycolysis on 3 glucose, what is its net gain of ATP?
PROBLEM P3: The pinned mRNA has 6 codons, and each codon is 3 bases long. How many bases does the mRNA carry?
PROBLEM P4: The pinned mRNA has 6 codons, and its last codon, UAA, is a stop codon that adds no amino acid. How many amino acids does translation build from it?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, say what each ATP becomes as it releases energy and why ATP is spendable currency rather than a battery; for P2, say where glycolysis happens and whether it needs oxygen, and why 4 is the gross figure and not the net; for P3, say where transcription happens and why the mRNA carries U, never T; for P4, say where translation happens, name the chain, and why the stop codon adds no amino acid. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a teammate explaining what ATP is, what happens to pyruvate when oxygen is short, why the oxygen-using route makes far more ATP, and one limit. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: correct computations (40 points), cell-biology reasoning (32 points), clarity for a non-expert reader (16 points), and showing work so it can be checked (12 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 computation points, 4 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 1.5 showing-work points. Sum the four problems within each criterion. Count my teammate message only with P2, and only for clarity.
COMPUTATION UNITS: A correct result in any equivalent notation = 2; the right values and operation with one arithmetic slip = 1; a missing result or a wrong operation = 0.
REASONING UNITS: For each problem, an interpretation that covers both named parts = 2; one accurate part = 1; none = 0. Calling ATP a battery stored for days, crediting glycolysis with the most ATP, writing a T into an mRNA, or placing transcription at the ribosome is not accurate. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence a newcomer can follow, with terms in everyday words = 2; evidence that needs a reread because of an unclear label or unexplained term = 1; no readable evidence = 0. Include my teammate message with P2. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear work.
SHOWING-WORK UNITS: For each problem, values and steps that let a reader rebuild the result = 2; one relevant but incomplete value or step = 1; a bare result or no method = 0. A visible method stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me what supports it. Keep the conversation on questions, not on finished work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, a copied prompt, a yes/no reply, or a one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or treat agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Never score evidence I did not supply, and do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief interpretations AND written my message to my teammate AND revised at least one calculation or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my calculations and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised ATP and gene-decoding report, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised ATP and gene-decoding report with all four answers, their brief interpretations, and your message to your teammate — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labeled sketch of the codon-by-codon decode with a short note; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 4 skills — treating ATP as spendable currency, doing the glycolysis bookkeeping with every step shown, transcribing and translating a gene with the place of each step named, and explaining the sprint's backup route in plain words — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief interpretations, and the message to your teammate. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, one criterion at a time, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one calculation or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised report, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The calculations, reasoning, revision, and final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment or to add evidence you did not produce. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and needs no AI account.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com