Review for:cellsalive.com

If you used this resource in your own classroom, please add your review.

    

posted: on November 26, 2006 at 11:41PM

My rating of this resource: ****

My experience using this resource:
Cells

Topic I was teaching:
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells
Cell Division (Mitosis and Meiosis)

My learning goal for which this resource was used:
Students should be able to identify cell structures, explain their individual roles in cell metabolism, and how the function of one supports the function of others ultimately maintaining homeostasis of the cell.

Students should be able to compare/contrast the two types of cell division: mitosis and meiosis.

Course Level:
A.P., Honors or Advanced, Intro or Regular

How I/my students used the resource:
*classroom instruction
*at-home review
*peer review
*classroom assessment

Value Added:
Provides visualization or animation, Increases modeling skills, Provides a virtual lab, Provides practice or tutorial, Increases student engagement and motivation

Strengths:
Site is easy to navigate, graphics are colorful, offers tremendous support to classroom resources, students can access this on their own without a password or school affiliation


I have used this site mostly for exploring the structures that make up a cell and cell division. I always hear that longed for; "Ah! I get it now!" Seeing facilitates understanding. Cellsalive.com makes this happen easier.
There is a link titled "HowBig?" where "The head of a pin is about 2mm in diameter. Use this animation to compare the relative sizes of cells and organisms sitting on a pinhead. Nearly invisible without magnification, dust mites dwarf pollen grains and human cells. In turn, bacteria and viruses are even smaller." This is a great tool that helps those who are spacially challanged and relative sizes are hard to grasp.


The authors of cellsalive.com make a variety of still real-images, real-video, and computer generated images free to anyone on the net. Please understand that their bread and butter comes from the support of those who purchase their CDROMs and downloads. Just imagine, if the free stuff is so useful what other resources are waiting for you on the CDROMs/Downloads that will make you wonder how you could have lived without them!? (I have not made this dive yet... but it is on my list of to-dos!)

(Regarding relative sizes... This also makes me need to mention http://historyof theuniverse.com/cocceart.html . This site helps the inquisitive visitor appreciate the relative sizes of objects if the Earth was the size of a soccer ball... Fun to just explore! )

Weaknesses:
Because this site offers support to students of all skill level, some information/graphics may be too "heady" for the more basic student. With assistance, these students should be able to filter out the relevant information from that which they will not be held accountable for understanding.

updated: on November 26, 2006 at 11:43PM
Researching the Wireless High School: Effects on Science Teaching and Implications for Professional Development, Copyright 2013 TERC.
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