INTRODUCTION TO CELLS

Cellular Structure and Function

Keywords

Learning objectives

Lesson overview

Cytoplasm, Eukaryote, Eukaryotic Cell, Nucleus, Organelle, Plasma Membrane, Prokaryote, Prokaryotic Cell, Ribosome, Virus

If you look at living matter with a microscope—even a simple light microscope—you will see that it consists of cells. Cells are the basic units of the structure and function of living things. They are the smallest units that can carry out the processes of life. All organisms are made up of one or more cells, and all cells have many of the same structures and carry out the same basic life processes. Knowing the structures of cells and the processes they carry out is necessary to understanding life itself.

• State the cell theory, and list the discoveries that led to it.• Describe the diversity of cell shapes, and explain why cells are so small.• Identify the parts that all cells have in common.• Contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

ENGAGE 10min

Study the 3D model “Other Types of Bacteria” in the Lifeliqe Animal Biology library. Then, formulate answers to these questions:

• How would you describe these various shapes?• Why do different bacteria take different forms?

EXPLORE 20min

Read “Introduction to Cells.”www.ck12.org/section/Introduction-to-Cells...

Study the 3D models “Bacteria” in the Lifeliqe Animal Biology library and “Somatic Cell” in the Lifeliqe Human Biology library. Then, formulate answers to these questions:

• How do these cells differ?• What results from those differences?

EXPLAIN 10min

EXTEND / ELABORATE 10min

Take what you have learned and see it in authentic contexts.

Read and view “Arsenic and New Life?”www.ck12.org/biology/Nucleic-Acids/rwa/Arsenic-and-New-Life

Take the following quiz to assess what you have learned.

“Introduction to Cells”www.ck12.org/section/Introduction-to-Cells...

EVALUATE 10min

Select content for this lesson plan was derived from Brainard, J. (2017). CK-12 Biology. Palo Alto, CA: CK-12 Foundation.Except as otherwise noted, all cK-12 content (including cK-12 curriculum material) is made available to users in

accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NV 3.0)License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). http://www.ck12.org/saythanks.