5th Grade Cell Comparisons
Fifth graders at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about cells and various cell structures (SOL5.5a), so today students in Ms. Conway’s and Ms. E.Hall’s classes created interactive cell diagrams using Thinglink. First they chose whether to draw a plant or animal cell, then they used Pixie to illustrate the cell and its parts. Next they logged into Thinglink with their Google account and uploaded their drawings. Instead of just asking the students to label the parts and their functions, we wanted them to do a bit of higher-level thinking. So we instructed them to compare the cell to some other organized entity and its parts, like a school, a team, or a machine. The example I gave them was comparing the cell to a swimming pool. The nucleus is like the lifeguard because they tell everything in the cell what to do. The cytoplasm is like the water in the pool because it contains all the objects in the cell. The mitochondria are like the filters because they provide energy and keep things moving in the cell. The cell membrane is like the walls of the pool holding it all together. The students got very creative with their comparisons. You can take a look at examples from each class here.