Class 2 Assignment 2 (WISE)

Less is more – I’ve been here before – it’s good stuff. The Educational Accelerator: Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) program is an effort that supports this notion that the central purpose of education is to cultivate a student’s ability to think. The Mitosis and Cell Process lesson at http://wise.berkeley.edu/teacher/projects/projectInfo.php?id=16276 is an excellent example of how the targeted use of technology can accelerate a student’s understanding of the stages of mitosis and associated cell structures within the context of learning about cancer. The Concord interactive animation (image above) allows students to start, stop, pause and run the animation of cell division forwards and backwards. As they make their predictions they thoughtfully select the beginning and end of the animation sequence for each phase, name the phase, and narratively describe what is happening within the cell that has lead to their decisions. The lesson is laser focused around 38 seconds of content that the learner can view over and over again as they try to accurately predict the stages of cell division. The activity requires significant effort and effort enhances attention and retention of information. The content is not only designed for our target audience, but novice biology learners of any level – Less is more.