Sunday, March 13, 2016

ADI for the microscopic world

When trying to come up with a single idea that follows the reading by Sampson and Gleim about argument driven inquiry, I struggled. I wanted to pick 7th grade because that is what I ideally want to teach. I know that 7th grade science standards include the initial introduction for students to cells and cell division. I found it difficult to come up with ADI experiments that are student inquiry based but then I realized it was kind of the best way for students to understand microscopic processes. When you are trying to teach students about microscopic things I think the first thing they need to understand is how we are able to see these things. I would want my students to create their own microscopes out of household items, magnifying glasses, drops of water, anything to get the students thinking about how to magnify things. Then I would introduce the idea of cells and question what they thought an individual cell needs. Get them to think critically about what processes a cell would need to survive- energy, a barrier, reproduction, a brain, etc. I would introduce the organelles back to them in their own words. Once all the organelles were taught I would divide the students into groups and pose a question about what analogies to cells the students could come up with. I would promote model building to increase the students understanding of cellular organelles by equating them with a system they already understand. The students could present their models to the class and discuss how each model was comparable to a cell.

Next I would teach cell division. This time the students would be familiar with microscopes and I would give them a lab to look at different slides as well as make a few slides of their own. They could look at their cheek cells or hair. Ultimately I could try and get the students to logically organize the steps of cell division. The students would submit a lab report explaining their thought process for why they ordered the stages the way they did. I would want the students to identify that different things were happening in the cells and through inquiry and critical thinking defend their answers. This could nicely lead into teaching about DNA replication or cell organization into higher tissue systems. All of these topics are easily taught through ADI. I think biology lends nicely to this mode of teaching. I think this method of teaching is a strong tool and greatly increases a student’s ability to retain the information.      

2 comments:

  1. I think you did a really good job thinking thoroughly about all the steps in which ADI activities can be used throughout a unit instead of just doing one ADI activity or lab that might take a few days.
    Your idea reminds me of a lesson I heard about in one of my high school's AP Biology classes in which after learning about cells and all their organelles the teacher created an obstacle course of sorts and individual students were assigned to be organelles. It was a school day with a shortened schedule in spring, so the class went outside and she spaced everyone out, so students who were vesicles would have to run to deliver their objects and students who were organelles would have to complete a task to process what was delivered to them/make energy. I think a fun lesson like that could be ideal for 7th graders because they would have to know about their organelle to know what actions to take, plus it provides them with some physical activity which can be good for students who get restless sitting in desks all day. Students could also easily be made to write an argument driven reflection about the roles of organelles in a cell.

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