We had just spent 3 days in class going over the 3 stages of cellular respiration in depth, and then on the 4th day, I assigned this project:
Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis Project
I started out by giving them some simple diagrams of photosynthesis and asked them how this related to cellular respiration. They figured out very quickly that they are essentially the reverse of each other, and the only differences are where the products and reactants are being used as well as what the electron carriers are.
So then I explained that in this project, they needed to explain in detail all 6 process and then compare and contrast how some of them were similar and different (i.e. the Krebs Cycle and the Calvin Cycle).
The results were STELLAR to say the least. The amount of thought that went into them was unparalleled and some of the projects looked very professional.
Thoughts and Tips:
- It took students about 5 40-minute classes to do this
- It helps if you have them find the content first (figure out how to explain all 6 processes) and then have them begin filming/singing/whichever medium they choose
- iMovie works really well for filming–just make sure they have the audio lined up with the content
On Teaching 