An evil idea - Posted for the world to see!

[singerinthedark]

Tomorrow's lesson for my College Prep Biology Class:

In 35 minutes, you must create a small-scale project that shows your understanding of transcription. Your project may be a presentation, a poem, a poster, a picture of a tattoo, a skit… Anything you can create in 35 min.

The rules:
1. You may work in groups of 1-3.
2. You must illustrate or explain the following concepts:
a. RNA is different from DNA in structure and function
b. RNA is similar to DNA
c. Base Pair rules
d. The process of transcription
e. RNA polymerase’s role in making RNA
3. You must be able to explain how your project relates to transcription.
4. You must work on your project for the entire 35 min.
5. You will present your project at the end of class.
6. YOUR PROJECT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT. It just needs to follow rules 1-5.

I plan on using the warm-up activity as way to brainstorm ideas and allow students to choose their groups with people who are like-minded. As an additional motivator, I'm considering bringing in some sort of treat to award to the project that was most creative - perhaps letting the students vote on it.

It will be quick, fun, and fast, providing I can sell it to the students correctly. I'm presenting this idea 5th period, which starts at 1:05. Any last-minute feedback?

Comments

[kelsied.livejournal.com]

It occurred to me after, so this may be something to file away for later. But when I train projects like this with adults, I budget the time for several "sections" and give each adult a different section to teach back. That way, we can cover multiple topics in an interactive style. They learn one topic well (their own), and the other topics are more interesting than if I just stood up front and lectured... and if they overlook something, I can always point it out after their presentation, or ask them a question that draws that point out.

So in future, if you need to cover four or five topics over three days, you could still use the three days for development and presentation, provided you selected the topics broadly enough.