Assgn #4: Animal and Plant Cell Differences

Biology is so exciting . . . especially when we really get down to the nuts and bolts of life: cells!! It really is astounding to be able to study the building blocks of life, especially when we look at the similarities between the cells of plants and the cells of animals. How fascinating that cells so similar could produce life forms that are so . . . DIFFERENT! What powerful testimony of the intricate design molded by a Creator God. Check out my lesson plan on Animal and Plant Cells, created with the help of SMART Board.

Pay special attention to slide 7, which I created on my own. In this slide, I added links to two internet sites. One of them is a picture of an animal cell with a crossword puzzle directly to the right . . . the other is very similar, except focused on plant cells instead. I found this addition to be helpful to my students, and add a bit more fun to the lesson plan. I additionally asked my students to use the SMART board tools to draw out an animal cell and a plant cell, and then pull down the covering shield to reveal actual photos and see if they were able to highlight the similarities and differences correctly.

My lesson plan designed to identify the differences between Plant and Animal Cells meets the NETS for 9th-12th grade students #8, which is "Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning. (4, 5) " Through class discussion and participation, my students will be able to apply technology which will help in informational analysis and problem solving in the content area of biology. Likewise, it meets these Science GLE's: "1.1 Properties: Understand how properties are used to identify, describe, and categorize substances, materials, and objects; and how characteristics are used to categorize living things. 1.2 Structures: Understand how components, structures, organizations, and interconnections describe systems." Consequently, this lesson plan not only provides for state determined knowledge standards through the content area of science, but also continues to develop my students understanding and use of technology according to state standards.


This SMART board activity involves full class participation. I think that I will begin the lesson with some direct teaching preparation involving what a cell is: the building block of life. I will then explain to my students that, though cells are the smallest living organisms, even they can be further broken down to reveal all of the various organelles that work together to allow the cell to function. From this point, I will transition into the SMART Board activity lesson in order to allow my students to identify the parts of each cell, as well as their functions. We will participate in discussion throughout the lesson, focusing much on the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells. The first time that we go through each slide, I will have the students choose the option of "Click and Reveal" to identify the parts of the cells. After that, we will use the "Drag and Match" option to identify the organelles as a class. We will walk through the entire lesson as a class, though during the crossword puzzle slide I will break the class up into groups of 3 or 4 to work on the puzzle quietly together with the use of their texts. Learning will be assessed through a written quiz given later in the week on the parts and functions of the cells, which will incorporate the various pieces of the SMART Board lesson and will be modeled after the activity done in class.

This lesson is only one of HUNDREDS of examples of how useful the SMART board technology can be in my classroom. I think that my students benefit from this on many levels. Firstly, they are able to interact together as a class, which provides invaluable lessons not only on science and/or language arts, but also on how to work as a team and cooperate in social skills in order to achieve correct answers and work through a lesson. It is also highly interactive, which not only allows the students to participate in the learning process so that they can more deeply grasp the information presented, but also generally makes the information itself more interesting. Besides this, technology benefits my students because it allows them to have more than one teacher: rather than simply providing my own voice and my own lesson plans at all times, technology opens up opportunities for me to use other lesson plans posted on-line (whether through SMART board or not). This allows my students to get several different perspectives, teaching styles, and scopes on science/english. Therefore, their knowledge base will be more rounded and profound because of the opportunities they have to learn from various teachers. In addition, they will learn to begin teaching themselves and eachother. Because of the nature of technology, SMART board empowers students to learn individually and as a group through participating in the lesson in a way which lecture simply does not allow. Therefore, they become their own teachers . . . and, as it is often said, the best way to learn something for yourself is to teach it to another!!

Technology (specifically the SMART Board) is not only helpful . . . it is a necessity in my classroom. Through allowing the students to have a wider knowledge base, other teaching perspectives, an interactive classroom, and empowering them to teach one another, the SMART Board provides for the enhancement of knowledge and education on many levels.