Createrly

Link to homepage

Introduction
Createrly is an app which allows the user to create mindmaps, flowcharts and other diagrams with which to present information. It is free to sign up with and allows users to use a preexisting template for their ideas or create a new one. This shows great potential for student engagement as it's a good alternative to the traditional mind map on a whiteboard or piece of paper idea. This means that the mind map can be saved (which it couldn't be on a whiteboard) and sent around the class (which it couldn't on a piece of paper), enabling students to go back and look at it again.

Instructions
Createrly is very easy to use, and doesn't require registration if you don't wish to save your work. Simply click on the link above and then on the "try createrly now" button on the homepage. Next, a user can select a template they wish to use or if they wish to begin with a blank page. Here, I clicked on the Mind Map templates section and selected my preferred design.

As a class activity, createrly would be a great tool to use at the start of a unit as part of a class discussion. Students could offer things they already know about a topic. This could be really useful with a topic such as genetics in stage 5. Students may have heard about genetic diseases or heritable traits and use these as a basis for a discussion to start the unit off.

Outcomes Covered
Stage 5
SC5-15LW explains how biological understanding has advanced through scientific discoveries, technological developments and the needs of society
LW3 b. identify that during reproduction the transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next involves DNA and genes (ACSSU184)
c. identify that genetic information is transferred as genes in the DNA of chromosomes 

LW4 c. explain, using examples, how natural selection relates to changes in a population, eg in the development of resistance of bacteria to antibiotics and insects to pesticides
LW4 d. outline the roles of genes and environmental factors in the survival of organisms in a population