Claymation+of+mitosis+and+meiosis

 media type="youtube" key="kaSIjIzAtYA" height="480" width="853"  **Overview of the Lesson:** Understanding mitosis will give the students a basic understanding of genetics and life processes. The point of the lesson is to teach them the different stages of mitosis and meiosis and what goes on in each stage. In order to help the students better understand what mitosis/meiosis looks like in action, they will be in groups of 3 or 4 and create a stop motion [|video] using a digital camera and video editing software to show the different stages of mitosis. This vocabulary list might be helpful to students during the lecture. In the end, each group of students should have a finished product that shows all the stages of mitosis/meiosis and includes a voice over explaining what is going on in each stage. Because the students are doing this in groups, it allows to learn how to collaborate with one another.

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**Assessment:** The students will produce a video depicting the different stages of mitosis. This video will be created using Play-doh, digital stills, and video editing software. I would ideally like the students to use their own voice overs (using Voice Thread) so they can personalize their video. This video will be graded with a rubric and the project will be done in class. By observing the students and seeing how they are progressing, I'll be able to assess whether or not they need more explanation or instruction on the topic. This rubric will be used to assess the students' videos ======

Exemplar on lesson plan website Digital camera Play-doh or modeling clay or any materials seem fit for the project Computer with video editing software and Internet connection PowerPoint Presentation
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**Higher Order Thinking Applicatons:** The students will essentially be making something out of nothing. They will be using their knowledge about the stages and functions of mitosis to create a movie depicting a cell going through mitosis. In order to create their movie, the students are going to have to look at the different stages and decide how they are going to go about making their movie. They'll have to analyze what is going on in each stage in order to put their movie together. This goes hand in hand with the highest order thinking skills on Bloom's Taxonomy: create, evaluate, analyze.

**Differentiation:** I'll make sure to put students with any sort of disability in a group with other students that compliment their personalities. I realize that students with any hearing impairments will need accommodations such as closed captioning. The video project itself is not very difficult because it is completed in groups and I believe that students at any learning level will be able to successfully complete this project. The students will be assessed at later date with a more formative assessment on their own personal knowledge of the subject, while the group dynamic will be assessed with the rubric provided. This project is very universal in its design in that it accommodates visual learners, auditory learners, and tactile learners. Overall, the lesson itself is very dynamic in the way the content is delivered.

**Digital Citizenship:** Each group of students should have slightly different looking videos. Making sure that all the videos are different will ensure that none of the students copied each other. If we post these videos online, it would also be a good opportunity to talk to the students about creative commons and copyright infringement. In this particular instance, students will be using images from their notes and textbooks in order to create their mitosis movie. Ideally, all of the projects will be original and won't obviously look exactly like the pictures in the textbook.

**Closure:** I would like to have a movie viewing day where I would show all of the students' videos. We could make it a fun day and have popcorn and snacks. In the end, the videos are a piece of work the students can be proud of and something they can also use as a study tool. Their knowledge about mitosis they gained will also provide a basis for them to learn about meiosis and other different genetic processes.

**Reflection:** When I made the video by myself, it took about two hours to take all of the pictures. If the students are in groups of three or four and each student has a different job, the picturing taking process will likely take a lot less time. I could also just have the students take pictures and not make a claymation video, but just use VoiceThread to narrate each picture illustrating each stage of mitosis. For example, they would have four pictures and each picture would represent a separate stage. The students would then talk about each stage in their voice over.