Using Microworlds, Digalo and IDEAS pack Cells age group 12-13

General factors Teachers are concerned about management of class breaking down – strategies needed for specific group work activities; Prior work needed, lesson sequencing, how to organise group work, key words, key skills, suggested timings, Microworld and Digalo loaded and working; Planning for ICT lessons in science - use of computer rooms; Activities need to be challenging in different ways to take account of children’s different learning styles.

Objectives Teachers communicate objectives to children –gather and organise information –communicate with others –identify tasks –implement tasks successfully –use evidence effectively to make decisions –learn from experience Also Children evaluate outcomes against these criteria at the end Formative assessment opportunities

Prior knowledge These lessons comes near the beginning of a unit on cells for children aged 11-12; They will have worked on cell structure and have been given the language they need to discuss cells effectively;

Microworld activity Children use prior knowledge of animal and plant cell structure in general Microworld brought up on screens Each constituent part of the cell is depicted Animal and plant cell elements: Cell membrane; Nucleus; Cytoplasm + Vacuole; Chloroplast chlorophyll (a number of these); Cytoplasm; Cell wall Children work out which element belongs in which cell and drag to the right side of the screen..

Group work Teachers set up groups In these groups students put the parts together to make an animal and a plant cell. Each group must justify its decision.

Assessment exercise To test children’s understanding of the first exercise True or false cards e.g. Animal and plant cells both have a cell membrane that lets substances in and out. (TRUE) Both animal and plant cells have a cell wall to give the cell shape and support. (FALSE) Students us the diagrams to help them decide which of the statements are true and which are false. They must write a correct statement where a false statement is made.

Modelling exercise Remainder of the lesson and homework. Resources: Junk items + fabric, pipe cleaners, card – some of which must be green for chlorophyll. Make 3D models of an animal and plant cell side by side.

Lesson 2 Key words and diagrams of the two types of cells should be hung from “washing lines” from the ceiling or around the walls. Either order a sample of Euglena in good time or find a video clip of Euglena on the Internet (which also has stills that show the cell structure well and these can be presented on powerpoint during the activity). An alternative site is: bio.cornell.edu/BioG101_104/tutorials/protista/movie s/Euglena.MOVhttp://biog bio.cornell.edu/BioG101_104/tutorials/protista/movie s/Euglena.MOV

Using digalo Give out evidence cards and sorting sheet (from the IDEAS pack) Configure a Digalo pad with the following in different shapes Euglena is a plant cell Euglena is an animal cell Euglena is either a plant or animal cell Euglena is neither a plant nor an animal cell

Group work and decision making Teacher sets up groups around a computer Students decide which shape each statement should go in they write the statement in that shape They make a decision about what kind of cell they think euglena is

Plenary Replay the digalo session for each group on an interactive whiteboard and ask students to justify their thinking throughout. Teachers may need to ask questions to help students clarify their thinking. Teachers finally explains what a euglena is (protista)

Have the learning outcomes been accomplish? Did children: –Gather and organising information –Communicate with others –Identify tasks –Implement tasks successfully –Use evidence effectively to make decisions –Learn from experience –evaluate outcomes against the objectives set at the beginning of the topic? Did teachers attempt formative assessment?