Out of the Deep Freeze: Secondary Smorgasbord Blog Hop

This month's Secondary Smorgasbord blog hop's theme is "Out of the Deep Freeze." During this cold Korean winter I've been working on an idea that's been "frozen" in my mind for a while now.

Over the last three years in my seventh grade science class I have done an "Organ Trail" project, posters, short presentations, and worksheets, but none of them were quite what I was looking for. One day over this winter break I came up with a much more creative way for students to demonstrate their understanding of a particular organ. A job application! Students pretend to be an organ of their choice (or an organ that has been assigned to them) and fill out an application for a job in the human body.  I spent much of my winter break determining what should be on the job application that would be relevant and truly show knowledge of the body and how it works.

To complete their application, students need to have a good understanding of an organ, what it does, and the organ system it is a part of. I think students will enjoy the application assignment while demonstrating understanding in a new and deeper way. Once the students have submitted their Organ Application to "Human (Body) Resources," the teacher can decide which organs are "hired." The hired organs can receive some kind of reward like extra credit, a homework pass (free here), or a treat. Get ideas for other easy and inexpensive student reward ideas by visiting this blog post.

The Human Body Organ Application Assignment includes a job announcement page, a blank Organ Application, a completed example application, a grading sheet, and teacher information pages about the assignment and how to use it. You might also be interested in my Cell Job Application Assignment.

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Once again, thank you to ELA Buffet and Desktop Learning Adventures for including me in your blog hop!

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