Persell Middle School eighth graders, Sydney Maggio, Avery Salvaggio and Kaitlyn Kennedy show off their cell-analogy projects created in Lina Scoma’s AT Science class.

Persell Middle School eighth graders Sydney Maggio and Abrielle Monaghan came up with a fascinating analogy for their Advanced Track Science project in Lina Scoma’s class. They created an iPhone drawing where they connected all of the information that they learned in their cell unit with the different parts of the iPhone. For example, ribosomes translate all the information in a cell from the nucleus to proteins and the SIM card carries all the information on the iPhone, or the cell wall is like the iPhone case because they both protect.

“A project like this is very hands on. We put a lot of time and effort and it gives us more time to be creative instead of just writing an essay — we had a chance to show it in pictures,” the students explained. “We made connections — here is how it works in a plant, but how does it connect to real-life? Doing a project like this made science so much fun.”

Scoma’s students are studying Living Environment (biology) and will be taking the Living Environment Regents at the end of the year. The cell-analogy project has students take what they know about cells, cell organelles and the function of these organelles and create an analogy of these cell parts with a common object, idea or place. Students made relationships and analogies that included: gaming consoles, schools, the post office, circus, the human body and Wal-Mart.

“I feel that it is important for students to find ways to relate what we are learning in class to what they know or see in the real world,” said Scoma. “When students can make those connections, the concepts they are learning can become more real for them and can be applied towards their experiences. I love assigning projects where students are challenged and encouraged to add their own creative twist, all while applying the content and concepts we learned in class. I feel projects and lab experiments that promote critical thinking and inquiry are important for our students as they assist in developing the research and problem solving skills they will need in the future.”

Students are currently learning how human body systems work together in maintaining homeostasis. They will also study genetics, evolution and ecology in AT Science.