Lesson 2 : Lab

Time Required: 300 total minutes

Students will determine whether a variety of mystery specimens are from living or non-living organisms. To do so, they will:
1. Explore and identify cell parts and their functions using an interactive website, and make connections with a real-world analogy. 
2. Compare and contrast animal and plant cells under a microscope to analyze and compare cell structure. 
3. Draw conclusions about the mystery specimens: are they living or nonliving? 

MS-LS1-1

Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on developing evidence that living things are made of cells, distinguishing between living and non living things, and understanding that living things may be made of one cell or many and varied cells.]

MS-LS1-2

Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the cell functioning as a whole system and the primary role of identified parts of the cell, specifically the nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, cell membrane, and cell wall.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of organelle structure/function relationships is limited to the cell wall and cell membrane. Assessment of the function of the other organelles is limited to their relationship to the whole cell. Assessment does not include the biochemical function of cells or cell parts.]