Cell Organelle Campaign
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Your group has to run a campaign to get your assigned cell organelle elected as “The Most
Important Organelle.” You will have to argue that without your organelle, the cell and the
organism, and consequently the world as we know it, will collapse. I expect you to
understand the details of your organelles. Here’s what you have to do:
POSTER
You will put up campaign posters and other paraphernalia (with preapproved permission of the classroom instructor) in the classroom only. No
posters are allowed to be displayed in any other part of the school. I am
requiring at least one poster championing the greatness of your organelle.
I suggest more than one poster if you want to win. This should be very
visual; think of the iconic Obama “Hope” poster.
The poster cannot be larger than 22” x 28”. Anything larger than that
will not be displayed in the classroom.
BROCHURE
In addition to your poster, you need to create a campaign flyer/brochure that describes
how totally awesome your organelle is. Include a catchy graphic on the front, then details
as to the structure and function of the organelle. Be sure to relate the structure of the
organelle to its function. It is crucial to make the connection for your voter about why your
organelle is the most important. So tell your voter why your organelle is important for the
survival of the organism. Can you link that to survival of an ecosystem? The entire world?
Okay, maybe I’m being dramatic, but that is how campaigns can be! Make sure you have
references for this brochure. Any information you get from outside sources needs to be
cited in MLA style (see the citation website). Use any formatting style you think looks
good. Other than what I requested, have fun with the brochure. Quotes of doctors or
other experts? Sounds great. Pictures? Perfect.
You need to have a brochure ready to distribute to each person in the classroom.
MUDSLINGING
The fun stuff. Mudslinging means negative campaigning. You need to run a smear
campaign against at least 5 other organelles. The goal of this is to damage their
reputation. Look up what diseases are associated with mutations or malfunctions of their
organelles and create some kind of literature against it (poster, pamphlet, fact sheet, Tshirt, radio ad, commercial, etc.) and you have to include it in your campaign speech.
]You must have a smear campaign against EACH of the 5 other organelles.
SPEECHES
On Election Day, your group will have prepared a campaign speech. Everyone in your
group will be performing the speech, not just one person. You will be performing your
speech to your class, to whom you have been passing out the brochures and posting your
paraphernalia. Some of these speeches will also be videotaped, with permission. In your
speech, you need to convince the voters based on structure and function that your
organelle is the most important. You have to try to deflect the smear campaigns that have
hit you. Limit the speeches to 5 minutes. Your group will provide me with a transcript of
the speech on Election Day, complete with references in MLA formatting. After the
speeches, the class will complete a ballot and vote for the best cell organelle.
The number of votes you get is part of your grade, albeit a smaller percentage. In order to
avoid everybody voting for their own organelle and nobody winning, you will be required
to vote for your own organelle as well as ONE other. Please follow the grading rubric
while creating your campaign.
Beyond what I have required, you can be as creative as ethically correct to win this
campaign. You will uphold the highest respect for your classmates while running an
aggressive campaign. No threatening or bribing other students, please. But extra
posters, T-shirts, buttons, stickers, pencils, face paint, candy, cupcakes, Twitter…the sky
is the limit when it comes to promoting your organelle. You come up with the ideas!
If you need copies made, I can help, but they will only be in black and white. If you need
brochures or anything else photocopied for your class, your group needs to give
them to me at least ONE day before the election. I will NOT make copies on Election
Day.
Good luck!
The organelles and student groups will be randomly assigned.
List of organelles:
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Nucleus (including the nucleolus, chromosomes, chromatin, and nuclear envelope)
Ribosome
Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
Rough endoplasmic reticulum
Cytoskeleton (including cilia, flagella, and centrioles)
Mitochondria
Chloroplast
Golgi apparatus
Lysosome
Cell membrane
Cell Wall
Vacuole (including both animal cell and plant cell vacuoles)
Cell Organelle Campaign Rubric
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Poster
Brochures
!
10
8
Accurate
Accurate
drawing,
drawing, decent
memorable
image/slogan,
image/slogan,
decent use of
good use of
color, good
color, excellent
creativity
creativity
Very persuasive,
A factual
factually perfect,
inaccuracy, or
important topics
not really
included
persuasive, or
(structure and
left out important
function of
function
organelle)
Extras
Creative,
persuasive,
pertinent to
organelle, more
than 1 extra
Creative,
persuasive,
pertinent to
organelle, only 1
extra
Speech
Creatively
incorporate
organelle’s
function, 3-5
minutes in
length, wellorganized,
evidence of
practice, all
group members
participate
Incorporate
organelle’s
function, 3-5
minutes in
length, but not
well-organized
or not much
evidence of
practice, all
group members
participate
Smear
Campaign
Smear at least 5
organelles,
creative,
appropriate,
factually
accurate
Smear at least 5
organelles,
appropriate, not
creative or not
factually
accurate
5
Average
drawing,
average
image/slogan,
average use of
color, average
creativity
Several factual
inaccuracies, or
not persuasive,
or not much
content
Not very
creative, or not
very persuasive,
or not pertinent
to organelle,
only 1 extra
Incorporate
organelle’s
function, less
than 3 minutes,
not wellorganized or not
much evidence
of practice, not
all group
members
participate
equally
Smear less than
5 organelles, not
creative or not
factually
accurate,
appropriate
0
One ore more
required poster
items missing
2 or more of the
problems at the
5-point level
2 or more of the
problems at the
5-point level, or
no extras
Problems with
everything at the
5-point level, or
not ready to give
speech
Not appropriate
or not done