Options, Objectives, and Optimism: Breakthroughs with Action: Snip It #3

I have always said a makerspace offers endless opportunities. It is a great tool to use for warm-ups and brain breaks. You can create buckets of what you want students to use or find. You can leave it a mess to allow for more spontaneity, or you can label each container, for easy use and inspiration. My makerspace, although at times gets organized, tends to me like me, whimsical and a little 'on the fly.' My students usually have to dig around for inspiration- but they always find the gems. Today, I strategically placed some items, for them to find, in order to lead them, where I wanted them to go.

I placed, sandwich bags, pipe cleaners, pieces of yarn, tooth picks and beads. On the board I wrote five words: nucleus, chromosome, allele, gene and DNA. Then I told them to make a model to 'show me' that they knew the organization of these components of heredity. This is what they came up with. A 3- minute activity that was a quick, informative, visual, active way for them to clear up the fog they had about these words. They are one of the most common set of terms that students get confused with in the unit. It was a good warm-up.