Stop-Motion+Video

A stop-motion video is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. ([])

Stop-motion provides a perfect outlet to teach mitosis, water cycle, or any other cycle.

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Included is the information packet (Updated Dec. 2012). It includes student instructions, sites to help your students understand what they are doing, lab questions, planning sheets and a grading rubric.

I would definitely recommend that the teacher do the project themselves before it is assigned to students, so that difficulties and roadblocks can be worked out ahead of time. The first time I did this, I only did it with 1 class of 18 (6 groups) so that I could see what else I would need to guide them. I used a free download of JellyCam.

This past year, I did this with 4 classes of freshmen biology and it was a huge success! I was most impressed with the students who often struggle with traditional classwork and testing. We submitted 3 to the media fair that our district annually holds and 2 of them got 2nd place. Here they are:

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iPad alternative: iStopMotion ($10) keep an eye to find it "gone free"
Thanks to Mrs. Cady and The Science Teacher Magazine http://mrscadybiology.wikispaces.com/Bio+I+Hall+of+Fame and The Science Teacher Magazine called Stop-Motion Mitosis Brunsell, Eric, and Martin Horejsi. "Stop-Motion Mitosis." //The Science Teacher// April/May (2011): 10-11. Print.

iMotion
It is free and you can also download the remote that goes with it. You can use your phone to control the ipad on the picture taking for the video.