Baw baw frogs
Stop Motion Animation
The effect chytrid fungus has on Baw Baw frogs
During this activity, students will gain an understanding of the vital role amphibian skin has in the regulation of fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. They will then learn how the chytrid fungus compromises this regulation leading to cardiac arrest and death. The aim of this activity is for students to represent their understandings of the chytrid fungus in a stop motion animation.
Rationale
This activity aims to get current science research into the classroom to show students how science is conducted outside of schools. This activity explains how the chytrid fungus disrupts the normal functioning of systems within a frog's body. Students are then asked to work in groups to create a stop motion animation to represent their knowledge of the chyrid fungus and its effects.
Assessment
This activity can be used as either a formative or summative assessment task. During the development of the animation, group discussions will provide you with insight into how well students understand the key ideas as well as their ability to work in a team. This task also assesses how well students can communicate scientific ideas through scientific language and representations. Student understandings can be further critiqued through the use of the other activities on this site.
instructions
You will need:
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- Projector and whiteboard to show the introduction video (below).
- Print outs of the Student Resource and Rubric for each student.
- Resouces listed in the Teacher Resource document.
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How you can use it
This activity will need to be completed over two 50 minute lessons. 30 minutes at the beginning of this task should be given for completing research and planning the stop motion animation, while the remainder should be given for making the animation.
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This activity can be used as a stand alone activity or can be used in conjunction with the other activities on this site.