Learning the rudiments of how to use bioinformatics tools, freely available on the Internet, permits you and your students to engage in open-ended activities that integrate various areas within biochemistry and become authentic investigation. However, the learning curve associated with these bioinformatics tools is often steep.

Once you become somewhat familiar with what is possible in biotechnology, you might look at Chris Smith's CMS Molecular Biology Resource to get an idea of the number and diversity of freely available bioinformatics tools that are out there.