7th-grade students from Richmond Hill Middle School took part in an “Organelle Wars” just in time for this election season.
The students are part of a special STEM program that incorporates interdisciplinary instruction through project-based learning. Students applied science, social studies, math, and English language arts skills and tied the synthesized information to the current election.
The 7th-graders raised awareness and convinced community members that their selected organelle is the most vital of them all.
The project began with classes being divided into groups who then researched their selected organelle. As an added bonus, students were able to interview an ER nurse, Erin Harper, and the former mayor of Savannah, Georgia; Eddie Deloach. Nurse Harper talked about the importance of different organelles within the cell and shared how different cells affect the body. Mayor Deloach focused on a variety of aspects that dealt with debating your opponents such as: staying on the main point, deciding what is the most important topic, using social media to bring attention to people, and engaging with your audience. Students were then able to apply their knowledge to creating media in preparation for the “Organelle Wars”.
Each group created commercials, posters, and a speech for their organelle campaigns.
Upon completion of each project, students in the three 7th-grade STEM classes voted for the best campaign for each of the eleven organelles. Then, the competition was stepped up a notch by having STEM students in ALL grade levels at the school vote for the “Most Important Organelle”.
Over 700 hundred students and staff voted, and in the end-the Nucleus and Mitochondria came out on top. The final stage of the battle included a face-off with debate amongst the two winning organelle representatives.
The teams went head to head and defended their organelle, though it was a close call, the panel of judges voted and selected the Mitochondria as the “Most Important Organelle” of the two. #WeAreRHMS #rhmsstemcats