If you're finishing up a unit on cells, here's a great project to get kids collaborating and recalling what they've learned in a fun and tangible way. Small groups create plant or animal cells out of materials they have at home. They use the provided list to check off all the necessary parts, and are encouraged to use items that represent accurate shapes and sizes of various cell parts. Groups fill out a graphic organizer explaining various functions and why they used the material they did to represent it. There is also a rubric included for a final assessment. This can be a simple print-out-and-hand-out, or used as inspiration for another project. 

Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Once group cell projects are finished, consider inviting a younger class in for a gallery walk. Your students can be available to answer questions as they come up

Classroom Considerations

• Vacuole is listed twice under "Criteria"

Pros

• The project outline offers a lot of suggestions to get kids thinking, but leaves the actual execution up to them with a lot of room for creativity

Cons

• None