CELLS GONE WILD PROJECT CALENDAR

DAY 1 / DAY 2 / DAY 3 / DAY 4 / DAY 5
PROJECT LAUNCH/CELL SIZE ACTIVITY / “CONTROL OF THE CELL CYCLE” COMPUTER SIMULATION / CELL CYCLESTAGES OF MITOSIS ACTIVITY / CONTROL POINTS / MITOSIS MANIPULATIVES / NORMAL VS CANCEROUS TISSUE ACTIVITY / RESEARCH MODEL/ SCAFFOLDED RESEARCH / FINISH RESEARCH/ PREPARE PRESENTATION
20 min:
Anchor Video followed by discussion of driving question (DQ): “How can we stop the spread of cancer cells?”
Introduce project to students,
hand out Project Guidebook, and identify short-term goals for each day of the 5-day project.
20 min:
Surface area: volume activity. Students calculate SA:V ratios for three different sized cubes and understand that as the side length of a cell increases, its volume increases faster than its surface area.
30 min:
Cell size activity.
Students predict-observe-explain the importance of surface area to volume ratio for cells. Experimenting withpeeled hard boiled eggs in dyehelps students understandwhy a cell cannot continue to grow indefinitely.
(Worksheets for both activities provided in Project Guidebook.)
10min:
Whole class discussion of cell size and surface area: volume activity. Why did we start with this?
10 min:
Exit Ticket Assessment / 10 min:
Discussion of Exit Ticket misconceptions, if any. Relate today’s activities to DQ.
20 min:
Nobel Prize computer simulation.
student’s cell cycle preconceptions.
10 min:
Direct teach - overview of cell cycle. Take notes in Project Guidebook.
30 min:
Onion cell activity.
Before being formally taught the individual stages of mitosis, students try to come up with a classification system by themselves. Students choose a prepared part of onion root tip to photograph with microscope camera; print the photo; cut out 25 cells; and sort them into student-derived cell-cycle stages.
10 min:
Students compare their student-derived stages of mitosis with “official” stages, followed by direct teach on the five stages of mitosis and cell cycle control points. Take notes in Project Guidebook.
10 min:
Exit Ticket Assessment / 10 min:
Discussion of Exit Ticket misconceptions, if any. Relate today’s activities to DQ.
20 min:
Mitosis manipulatives activity.
“Hands on” activity that provides a deeper understanding of chromosome movement and cell cycle control points.
40 min:
Tissue activity.
Divide students into groups of three. Have 12 work stations set up around the room (three multiples of 4 different stations - skin, liver, lung, and ovarian tissue). Students rotate through all 4 stations, spending 10 minutes at each station.Worksheets in Project Guidebook.
10 min:
Teacher models data manipulation (percent of cells in each stage of the cell cycle) using results from one station.
10 min: Students do their own calculations for data from the other three stations.
Formative assessment:
Hand in Station Worksheets / 10 min: Review percentages calculated during last class. What do they mean?
Relate today’s activities to DQ.
70 min:
Divide students into pairs for final project.
Allow students to choose from among 5-10 cancers. Direct students to appropriate pre-determined websites and provide scaffolded research methods and worksheetwithin Project Guidebook defining research goals.
10 min:
Wrap up Day 4. Explain Day 5 activities. / 15 min:
Finish project research.
15 min:
Each pair-team shares research with a second pair- team (different cancer) and creates Venn diagram of similarities and differences between their two cancers.
20 min:
Pair-teams who researched the same cancers consolidate into one group and create 3-slide powerpoint presentation on their cancer.
30 min:
Each group presents power point to class and American Cancer Society / Relay for Life special guests.
Research/Presentation rubric provided in Project Guidebook.
10 min:
Invite guests to respond to presentations.
Discuss upcoming Relay for Life and how to get school community involved.
Wrap up project.
Resource requirements:
Anchor video, Project Guidebook, hard boiled eggs, dye, beakers, spoons, gloves, three different sized cubes / Resource requirements:
Project Guidebook, microscopes, pre-treated onion root tips, slides, slipcovers, microscope camera, computers, printer, scissors / Resource requirements:
Project Guidebook, mitosis manipulatives, tissue activity worksheets / Resource requirements:
Project Guidebook, computers / Resource requirements:
Project Guidebook, Venn diagram templates, computers, presentation equipment