Students wage war on Twitter - for organelles! Cast your vote soon...

Campaign poster by @CellWall01

Our biology students are engaged in a deadly, high-stakes battle right now, on Twitter.  They are raking muck, slinging mud, and making bold campaign promises, all in support of candidates whose jobs are vital to our national, global, and personal security -- the organelles within our cells.

In the end, only one will emerge triumphant -- the most valuable organelle, or MVO.

You can snoop on this heated contest -- and even contribute comments, or ask tough questions of the microscopic candidates.  The whole conversation is taking place on Twitter, at the hashtag #CatFootMVO.  (You can only see the thread if you have a Twitter account.)

Why are our students doing this?

Leigh Anne Droscha discovered the idea when she was sifting through the web, looking for engaging ideas to teach cell organelles. She found one.

She stumbled across a strategy crafted by another biology teacher, Brad Graba, who teaches biology in Illinois. Brad took an existing idea -- campaigning for organelles -- and added a new twist -- Twitter.  Leigh Anne seized on the idea, and quickly, Terry Fortunato and Charlie Schubert jumped in, launching into this endeavor with utter fearlessness.

And the kids?  

They were so excited, they barely waited until the ink was dry on the parent permission slips to start launching their Twitter campaigns -- they created traditional campaign media (posters, banners, badges), but also generated a wide array of digital media (memes, animations, videos, etc.) which showcase the inventiveness and humor of our students -- as well as the actual properties of the organelles themselves:

Here's a "meme:"

In fact, it is the sheer license to insult and critique the other organelles which seems to have unleashed some of the most engaging (and most evidence-based) commentary:

Want to vote? Teachers click here.  Voting closes on Halloween!

A biologist from France has even viewed and favorited one of the comments...

So, what might kids do with your content if they could engage in such a lively discussion - mixing images, video, animation, and text in as they please?