Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools

Lesson Idea Name: Osmosis and Tonicity

Content Area: Biology
Grade Level(s): 9
Content Standard Addressed: SB1d. Plan and carry out investigations to determine the role of cellular
transport (e.g., active, passive, and osmosis) in maintaining homeostasis.

Technology Standard Addressed: 1c. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves
their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. 1d. Students understand the
fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot
current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies. 2c. Students
demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual
property. 3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing
ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions. 5b. Students collect data or identify relevant data
sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and
decision-making. 6d. Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their
intended audiences. 7a. Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and
cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning. 7b. Students use
collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine
issues and problems from multiple viewpoints. 7c. Students contribute constructively to project teams,
assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.

Selected Technology Tool:

Blog Wiki Other: Website Creation Tool (list): Padlet

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Code for Padlet https://padlet.com/jesslynwest21/wzm11xynhdkp Password: Tonicity
Blooms Taxonomy Level(s):
Remembering Understanding Applying Analyzing Evaluating Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level): (Level determined by the specific lesson idea)
Level 1: Awareness Level 2: Exploration Level 3: Infusion Level 4: Integration
Level 5: Expansion Level 6: Refinement

Lesson idea implementation:

Students will complete a lab in the class in which eggs are submersed into different solutions to see the
effects of differing tonicities of those solutions and teach students about the concept of osmosis. The
students will be introduced to the lab through setting it up the day before it is going to be performed. The
flipped classroom assignment is for students to work in pairs and post their prediction based on evidence of
the different solutions on the egg on a classroom Padlet. After the lab, students will create another post to
explain whether or not their predictions were accurate and why. Then they will post graphs from their
calculations from the lab. Then, make a real-life connection to what they have learned. The predictions
should take about 30 minutes, but the assignment as a whole will take 1.5 class days and a couple of hours of
student work at home, total.

Student learning will be assessed based on their ability to explain their predictions with evidence and why
they got it wrong or right and their calculations in the lab, which will be part of a larger lab report that the
students will turn in. The assignment can be extended to a higher learning level by asking students to

Summer 2017_SJB
 Classroom Blog and Website Creation Tools
attempt a new experiment at home in which an egg is submersed in a different solution (teacher approval of
design will be required for safety purposes.) Because Padlet allows pictures, audio, and writing, it can be used
to differentiate learningstudents get to choose how they want to do their post. The lesson will be
concluded with the teacher showing the Padlet in class and sharing some of the students work. Feedback will
be provided to the students individually through a rubric for their lab report, and as a pair for the padlet
work.

Importance of technology:
A website-creation tool is critical to this project because it allows students to share their work, which mimics
what happens in real scientific inquiry. The project could be completed without this technology, but it would
be lacking in authenticity and potentially be less engaging for students.

Inspiration (optional): Inspiration for the lab idea was from here:
https://web.stanford.edu/group/lpchscience/cgi-bin/wordpress/images/Cell-Diffusion-and-Permeability-
T.pdf

It is a common lab performed in the high school setting. Students will perform many of the same calculations
shown in this lab.

Internet Safety and Student Privacy:

Padlets can be public or private, so care must be taken to choose the correct privacy settings. To minimize
risk and alleviate privacy fears, I made the Padlet only accessible with a password, which will be given to
students. Students will be instructed to NEVER give out personally identifiable information over the internet
and we will review the copyright and fair use pdf posted to the classroom blog.
Describe your personal learning goal for this activity.
This will be one of the first labs that students perform. It is also a means by which students can begin to hone
their ability to provide claims, evidence, and reasoning, a key component of scientific literacy. I hope it will
help students learn about the nature of scientific inquiry as one that is not always straightforward as well as
the content.
Other comments about your proposed activity:

Summer 2017_SJB