Westridge 7th Graders Create Stop-Motion Cellular Cinema to Illustrate Mitosis

And… action! Last week, 7th grade students in Middle School Science Teacher Barbra Chabot’s class created short stop-motion animation videos to illustrate mitosis, an important process in which the body makes more cells. Students had to think methodically and collaborate with one another to create each frame of the videos, not unlike the process of mitosis—which has precise steps with checkpoints to make sure a cell has what it needs before proceeding to the next step. “Collaboration is important for this project because the students have to plan [the video] out ahead of time and make decisions about which type of cell to show, what materials to use, and other creative elements they want to include. They have to storyboard it to make sure they will show the cell parts correctly,” said Chabot. “Stop-motion animating is also an exercise in patience and perseverance!”

After finishing their masterpieces, Chabot and students had a viewing party during which students watched and voted on their top two favorite videos to nominate for the best in categories for “scientific accuracy” and “creativity & execution.” To watch their videos, click here (the top four videos were the award winners!).

Westridge School, 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, (626) 799-1053 ext. 200 or visit www.westridge.org.