Cells and PicCollage

PicCollage is not just for posting selfies on Instagram.  It is quickly becoming one of my favorite apps for documenting student work in the classroom.  Last year my class was a BYOD (bring your own devices) classroom.  So when we made cell models, most students recorded their work on paper and a few used their own devices.  You can see that here. But this year was different.

This year we have a class set of iPads and most of my students used PicCollage (a free app) to record their work.  After they made their models using cookies and other tasty treats, they took photographs of their work,and then cropped their pictures to remove distractions like: the plate, or the table, or books on the table.  Finally, they labeled their organelles, added a title and that was it. I could quickly see whether or not my students knew which organelles are found in plant cells, animal cells, or both.  I think their models look marvelous!  What do you think?

What's the Matter?

 
We are studying matter this nine weeks.  Instead of using valuable class time to watch a Brain Pop video, Property Changes,  and a Bill Nye video States of Matter, the students watched them independently. If you have a  subscription your students could also watch Flocabulary's  States of Matter. Students were able to watch the videos at their own pace on their iPads. Then we were able to take time to complete these two labs.

For the first lab we were investigating that mass of an object is equal to the mass of the sum of its parts.  The students used Legos to construct different objects. What fun!  

They found the mass of their total object.  Next they separated their objects into smaller parts and weighed the individual parts.  Then they compared the total mass to the mass of the sum of the smaller parts.

The students took pictures of their work in progress and used PicCollage to share their finished work.  Thanks to our wonderful Science Mom, Mrs. Carter, for bringing in tons of Legos!

  For our next lab we used pheynol red, baking soda, and calcium chloride to investigate the difference between chemical and physical changes.  The students could actually see evidence of a chemical change taking place:  color change, change in temperature, and gas was formed.  All inside the safety of little baggies.  If you Google Sunset in a Bag you can easily find the directions for this lab online.