{"id":2458,"date":"2023-11-12T08:46:42","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T15:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=2458"},"modified":"2023-11-12T08:55:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T15:55:25","slug":"cells-on-the-sidewalk-visualizing-organelles-in-9th-grade-biochemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2023\/11\/cells-on-the-sidewalk-visualizing-organelles-in-9th-grade-biochemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"Cells on the Sidewalk: Visualizing Organelles in 9th Grade Biochemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c<\/strong>One way a cell can bring something inside itself is by covering that thing in membrane\u2014we saw this in our lab that when you cover your hand in bubbles, then you can push your hand through a bubble [without popping it].\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

9th Grade Biochemists are wrapping up a unit on cell structure and function with some challenging reading, model-based research, a large expressive group project, and individual analysis and reflection. This week, in small teams, they each produced a piece of a very large sidewalk chalk drawing of a eukaryotic cell in downtown San Jos\u00e9 (Check out this aerial photo<\/a>, taken by a student and a drone.) Each small team was responsible for researching and capturing both essential pieces of their organelle\u2019s structure, and also its interactions and importance. Teams\u2019 drawings include labels, chemical equations of processes the organelle completes, structural details, molecular models, and \u201czoomed in\u201d bits to show even more fine grain features. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they researched and drew, they also read and discussed a chapter of their class text, Story of Life: Great Discoveries in Biology<\/em><\/a> by Sean Carroll. In it, they learned about the early life and contributions of Lynn Margulis to the understanding of animal cell origin: \u201cI think Lynn Margulis did more for science in the 20th century than many people we study… At a time when people were really interested in competition, she wondered about the role of cooperation in evolution.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I think Lynn Margulis did more for science in the 20th century than many people we study… At a time when people were really interested in competition, she wondered about the role of cooperation in evolution.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Students wondered, \u201cSo it\u2019s like a prokaryote ate another prokaryote then became<\/em> a eukaryote?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, \u201cSo we basically have a bunch of bacteria that are organelles inside our cells? How did it transform from a bacteria to an organelle?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, their homework this coming week will challenge each of them to individually explain and reflect on their class\u2019s cell drawing, what it contains, and what it leaves out. In addition to reflecting on and explaining the organelle they researched, they will also explain and then critique another group\u2019s representation. Prompts include questions like, List three aspects of cell function that the drawing doesn\u2019t show and suggest an alternative that would be capable of showing these.<\/em> Their independent reflection also includes an AI-copilot assignment to find a scholarly article about an organelle, asked an AI Chat Application to summarize the article in 500 words, then turn-in the summary produced, and reflect on how this process influenced their understanding of cell structure and function. Through hands-on experience, discussion, storytelling, research, and model-building, our students both develop robust understanding of cell biology, and also engage in the habits and practices of science, participating actively in a long lineage of thinkers whose work they stand upon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOne way a cell can bring something inside itself is by covering that thing in membrane\u2014we saw this in our lab that when you cover …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-curriculum-connections","category-science"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/9th-grade-organelle.png?fit=918%2C688","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458\/revisions\/2464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}