Ride on the Magic School Bus! (Teacher Talk)

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So I had a "differentiated cell model" project for my PreAP Bio students.

Also oh man I can do so much more in class with these kids it is great.

The idea is, they have to pick a unique cell type (no generic "animal" or "plant" cells) and then build a 3d model of it highlighting the structures or organelles inside.

I spent a few hours going through and grading them yesterday, and I was pretty impressed so here they are!

Red Blood Cells:

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This wasn't exactly what I was looking for (none of the mini cakes are labeled, so they lost points for that...but I gave bonus points for tastiness so it all evened out


These guys did some solid research. I got an email asking if they could just put only 2 structures in their model since mature red blood cells vacate most of their organelles to make room for more hemoglobin. I told them NOPE gotta talk about membrane proteins then. So they flagged them on their twizzler membrane.

Ameoba:

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This guy looks like some kind of bizzaro Texas.

Chromatophore:

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This kid just threw whatever junk they could find onto the cell top. I came by while their friends were poking fun at them and said: "Oh hey! Good representation of the cell membrane! It's a really complex system with tons of random structures on it!"

I still took a couple of points off though.

Smooth Muscle Cell:

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The student's model (bottom) Turned out really well and she was very concerned with making sure it would be a good grade. And oh hey, what is that sitting right above it? Oh it is the model I showed to the classroom as an example. hrmmmm.

She did add a cool representation of the muscular fibers though!

Neurons:

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We had some unique (and sometimes misguided) takes on different types of neuron cells. A couple things I was looking for in these models: 1) They roughly represent the shape of the cell they are modeling 2) They are of a single cell 3)Each labeled structure has a 3d representation - not just drawn on.



This guy made his cell-body out of a water-balloon! I got really excited by this because I use the cell/water-balloon analogy a lot in class. (there is a little nucleus-dice floating around in there)

and Hey! there is a little euglena model next to it. (I am a sucker for euglena models).



Oops! Looks like someone drew their model on! I'm gonna have to take off--oh wait--



This isn't drawn at all! The cell body is highlighted and cut paper, the schwann cells are made of yarn and the dendritic connections are little strings and hot glue!! Okay yes A+.



Aw guys, this is why I offered you to show me your models ahead of time. This isn't a retinal ganglion cell - You gotta have the mylin sheaths and dendrites. Aw, and one of the structures you labeled "cone" is actually a completely separate cell, not an organelle of the nerve. Womp Womp.

Photoreceptor:

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Now THIS is what I am talking about! Full 3d, using everyday objects for unique representations of specialized structures, and a cell type that is completely different from your everyday "generic" cell type. This model gets all the points.

Now it might not look like much, but this is where different styles of grading comes into play. Some of my favorite models are the ones that have that extra creativity in them, even if they look simple, there was a student thinking "okay here is a picture I found online, but what can I use to represent this?"

Also, if you're wondering, there is some subjectivity in how I grade this project, but I broke it up into different components to limit how much that subjectivity can influence a grade.

Cnidocyte:

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Cnidocytes are cells whose entire job is to house and shoot a massive stabby venom filled needle. This kid represented this using a styrofoam ball stuffed into a baloon. Blow the baloon up, increase the pressure in the organelle, and POP nematocyst pops out. Good job guy!

Sperm Cell:

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Sperm cells are A-Okay for this project (just, kids be real careful how you search for it) This guy made his out of candy, and was in the same class as the red blood cell cupcakes. He went up to me and said..."Can I eat the candy in my model, now?"

I said, "Didn't you...hot glue the pieces? Don't eat hot glue."

I later turned around to see a flurry of kids ravenously tearing at his sperm cell.


Apparently they took: "Don't eat hot glue." as "Eat everything except for the glued down bits...mostly."

Magnetotactic bacteria:

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Very impressed with this model. 1) I never mentioned magnetotactic bacteria as an option so these kids looked up and chose this all on their own. and 2) It is the only microbe plush I've had made for class in the last 3 years! So impressed.