First, ensure that each student or student group has a filled ice bucket.
Then, set up a tube rack for each work station.
Into the tube racks, place two empty, sterile 1.5 mL tubes, and then two one mL aliquots of SOC media.
Then, place the plasmid tube into the ice bucket and add two tubes of competent E. coli cells, allowing them to thaw if frozen.
Set out two LB agar plates per group and two LB agar ampicillin plates per group.
Ensure the students have the appropriate pipettes.
And finally, set a water bath to 42 °C and a temperature-controlled shaker to 37 °C.