Heidi A. Everett
Science is a subject that easily provides many avenues in which to engage the curiosity of students. There are typically a variety of means to make a real world connection during a biology lesson. In my opinion, the easiest aspect of teaching science is bringing relevance to a lesson. However, the difficult aspect of teaching science arises when teaching at the cellular level. In order to teach at the cellular level, one must think outside the box and call upon their creative fibers. I am a huge proponent of tactile activities to reinforce concepts that I am teaching throughout a unit. I endeavor with each lesson in this unit to force the students to take part in an art activity or some hands on activity that will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the concept I am trying to teach.
The focus of this unit is at the cellular and sub cellular level and teaching concepts at these levels are considerably difficult for students to grasp. The idea of a cell is very abstract to students as it is nothing they can hold and observe with the naked eye. The way in which I aim to remedy this deficit is through the creation of interactive cells and viruses constructed by the students through the use of various mediums. My goal is to have the students create versions of viruses and cells that they can interact with in order to act out the various processes that take place between viral surface receptors and the surface receptors of a host cell membrane. The students will make their cells and viruses towards the beginning of the unit so that the class may refer to their models throughout various lessons.