The Flipped Classroom Course Artifact
Mitosis in the Sixth Grade Life Science
Mitosis was the topic for my project for the Flipped Classroom. For the outside instruction, I created a PowerPoint for the students to learn the basics of mitosis and and the characteristics of each phase of mitosis. I also created a video that illustrates the phases of mitosis in plant and animal cells.
Following the outside instruction, classroom activities include identifying the phases of mitosis while looking through the microscope at onion cells.
Each activity has a rubric that identifies student expectations and is used for assessment. A quiz has been built into Edmodo to further assess student understanding of the phases of mitosis.
I selected this artifact because it incorporated "at home" and "at school" activities, the fundamental concept behind the flipped classroom. For this activity I used a fifth grade class at Bracken STEAM Academy.
Since I don’t have a classroom or students to practice on, I borrowed 10 students from Mr. Harris’ fifth grade. He said he chose them at random, but nine out of the ten were ELL students. However, all were very cooperative and willing to participate in the activities. Below are the things I would do differently next time.
This was a great group of students to work with, very cooperative and willing to roll play the part of sixth grade students that they were doing their flipped work at home and were now doing their class work.
Mitosis was the topic for my project for the Flipped Classroom. For the outside instruction, I created a PowerPoint for the students to learn the basics of mitosis and and the characteristics of each phase of mitosis. I also created a video that illustrates the phases of mitosis in plant and animal cells.
Following the outside instruction, classroom activities include identifying the phases of mitosis while looking through the microscope at onion cells.
Each activity has a rubric that identifies student expectations and is used for assessment. A quiz has been built into Edmodo to further assess student understanding of the phases of mitosis.
I selected this artifact because it incorporated "at home" and "at school" activities, the fundamental concept behind the flipped classroom. For this activity I used a fifth grade class at Bracken STEAM Academy.
Since I don’t have a classroom or students to practice on, I borrowed 10 students from Mr. Harris’ fifth grade. He said he chose them at random, but nine out of the ten were ELL students. However, all were very cooperative and willing to participate in the activities. Below are the things I would do differently next time.
- Next time, I would ask Mr. Harris to have the students sign into my Edmodo class before coming to see me. This would have saved some time and given them time to explore their new class.
- Student drawings were acceptable, but they didn’t label the parts of the cell like I was hoping for them to do. As you will see, their drawings were fairly accurate for the first phases of mitosis, but they got sloppy with the last couple of phases.
- I should have borrowed colored pencils from the art teacher for this activity. Students seem to show more detail and draw more accurate images when they use color.
- This activity was designed to actually use prepared onion tip slides. The images I used, very detailed, but do not show the same number of cells. The images are selected to show mitosis, and why not? Because they showed fewer cells, this would skew the expected results. I would keep looking for better images if I had to use images again.
- It would have been nice doing this activity in a classroom. Each classroom had six student computers. I need to learn Pages a little better; maybe Pages can make an acceptable poster or post card.
This was a great group of students to work with, very cooperative and willing to roll play the part of sixth grade students that they were doing their flipped work at home and were now doing their class work.
This PowerPoint will give you a general idea of the phases of mitosis and the characteristics of each phase. After the instructional material is a little quiz to test your understanding. Take the quiz until you get a 100%.
Basics of Mitosis PowerPoint
This video shows detailed examples of the phases of mitosis in plant and animal cells and includes a time lapse video of a cell dividing to form two daughter cells.
Introduction to Mitosis Video
Basics of Mitosis PowerPoint
This video shows detailed examples of the phases of mitosis in plant and animal cells and includes a time lapse video of a cell dividing to form two daughter cells.
Introduction to Mitosis Video
Activity 1
At Home: Students should view the website listed in Activity 1 to become familiar with the terms and characteristics of mitosis in plant and animal cells.
At School: Students will answer the question posed in Activity 1 to develop an understanding for the need of cell division in plant and animal cells and the process of cell division.
Activity 2
At Home: Students will view the PowerPoint presentation on mitosis to review the phases of mitosis. The PowerPoint has five questions to help students identify the stages of mitosis.
At School: Students will look at prepared slides of onion root tip cells, identify cells in each phase of mitosis, draw one cell in each phase of mitosis, and label the visible cell structures and the correct phase of mitosis.
Activity 3
At Home: Students will watch the mitosis video. After viewing the video, students will answer a question about mitosis posed on the class Edmodo page, ask questions they have about mitosis, and respond to other student comments.
At School: Students will record the number of cells in each phase of mitosis seen in a field of view of an onion root tip under the microscope. They will locate a second field of view and count the numbers again. Teams will combine observations to get a greater population sample. After the data has been combined, students will prepare a spreadsheet and make a chart to represent the number of cells in each phase of mitosis. When given an total time for the process of mitosis, students will calculate the amount of time a cell is in each phase of mitosis and graph these results too.
Activity 4
Directions for Activity 4
At Home: Students will review the process of making a poster or postcard using Publisher.
At School: Students will construct a poster or postcard that illustrates the phases of mitosis.
At Home: Students should view the website listed in Activity 1 to become familiar with the terms and characteristics of mitosis in plant and animal cells.
At School: Students will answer the question posed in Activity 1 to develop an understanding for the need of cell division in plant and animal cells and the process of cell division.
Activity 2
At Home: Students will view the PowerPoint presentation on mitosis to review the phases of mitosis. The PowerPoint has five questions to help students identify the stages of mitosis.
At School: Students will look at prepared slides of onion root tip cells, identify cells in each phase of mitosis, draw one cell in each phase of mitosis, and label the visible cell structures and the correct phase of mitosis.
Activity 3
At Home: Students will watch the mitosis video. After viewing the video, students will answer a question about mitosis posed on the class Edmodo page, ask questions they have about mitosis, and respond to other student comments.
At School: Students will record the number of cells in each phase of mitosis seen in a field of view of an onion root tip under the microscope. They will locate a second field of view and count the numbers again. Teams will combine observations to get a greater population sample. After the data has been combined, students will prepare a spreadsheet and make a chart to represent the number of cells in each phase of mitosis. When given an total time for the process of mitosis, students will calculate the amount of time a cell is in each phase of mitosis and graph these results too.
Activity 4
Directions for Activity 4
At Home: Students will review the process of making a poster or postcard using Publisher.
At School: Students will construct a poster or postcard that illustrates the phases of mitosis.
What's Next?
Following the investigation of mitosis, students will study meiosis, the process of the formation of sex cells in plants and animals.
Following the investigation of mitosis, students will study meiosis, the process of the formation of sex cells in plants and animals.