Mitosis: Cell Cycle Flip Book

I remember the first time I wore my contact lenses to bed. Everything was fine and dandy until I woke up the next day. I was dumbfounded.

I could see every leaf on the tree outside my bedroom window!

I had been wearing glasses since forth grade and never could see clearly without my glasses.

I just laid there gazing at the leaves blowing in the morning breeze.

I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were.

That’s what really seeing something for the first time does for us. It amazes us.

My kids had that kind of experience today. We are learning about cells and cell division from a boring book science text book and we were not impressed.

What happened? The stars aligned and we unexpectedly gained access to a microscope, some plant cell slides, and a science teacher all at the same time… excitement was born! Amazement was release. The kids were hooked.

While all I could say was, “That slide looks neat,” the science teacher was able to share his love for cell division with the boys. In five minutes, the boys transformed from “boys trying to use a microscope for the first time”, to biologists trying to identify the different stages of cell division.

God’s creation is truly amazing!

Here’s how I helped fuel the flames of excitement:

First: We watched a few videos on cell division:

We loved Crash Course: Mitosis (He a fast talker, but does great overviews!)

We also loved Bozeman’s “Phases of Mitosis”

Although these video’s are targeting high schoolers, my boys caught the main ideas without a hitch!

Then I stayed up waaay too late creating a Cell Cycle Flip Book kit for each son (for both plant and animal cells).