Are you about to teach about the cell and its organelles to your middle school science students and need engaging ideas? I got you!
This topic is RIGHT up my alley. I absolutely love this topic, this unit, everything!
So, now that I got that out of the way, I want to share how you can share the love with your students and get them excited about learning about the cell, the basic unit of life, the thing that they can’t live without…literally!
So, after you teach about how the knowledge of cells came to be and how the cell theory formed, you are ready to share some details about this tiny little thing.
In this post, I share some WONDER activities with you, those hooks that help students become internally motivated to learn. I then share some lessons with you that will help your students OVERCOME the OVERWHELM of all of the new knowledge you’ll share about the organelles and other components in plants, animals, and bacterial cells. Finally, I share some WIDEN activities that will help your students apply the knowledge they gained about the cell and its organelles and extend their knowledge ever further.
WONDER Activities to Hype Students Up About the Cell and its Components
For me, I don’t need many “hooks” to get engaged in learning more about life science, but there are some students that do need that activity that will help them become internally motivated to learn more!
Here are three ideas you can try out in your classroom to get your students excited to learn more about the cell and its organelles!
Mystery Box Challenge
If you are looking for something engaging that will not take a lot of time, this is the activity for you! The only thing you’ll need is a box. That’s it. So, at the front of the class, tell your students that you have something VERY important in the box and that this object is crucial for all living things.
Let them guess, and then finally reveal that it is a cell. More than likely, there really is a cell of some sort in there. Probably a skin cell that fell off of you while you were preparing for the lesson!
Let them go ahead and tell you what they already know about cells, and then you can remind them that all living things have cells, and they are what make us! They are so tiny. You can’t see them with the naked eye.
Look at Real Cells!
There is nothing like “real-life” learning. If you are going to learn about cells, why not take a look at some if you have the chance. As mentioned, it’s surely not anything that you can see with your naked eye, so you will need a microscope. Don’t have microscopes? There are plenty of YouTube videos to check them out!
If you do have microscopes, you can either get something like onions, or you can purchase some prepared microscope slides so that you can have a variety of plant, animals, and bacterial cells before you learn about them.
Allow your students the time to explore this little micro world and ask some guiding questions:
- What cells are you looking at?
- How is the cell structured?
- Can you see anything inside the cell?
- Do the cells seem to be arranged in any particular way?
- Are there any differences between the different types of cells? (if they look at multiple)
- Do any of the cells seem to be dividing?
- Do you have any questions about what you are seeing?
This is a time for exploration and WONDER!
Cells Online Interactive Activity
Another option is to allow your students to explore an online model of the cell. There are several online, but I like this one by Teach.Genetics.
It gives students the option to explore plant cells, animal cells, and bacterial cells. The home page even has some valuable information to read!
Once inside, the interactive gives the function of the organelles for students to click on, and then it leads them to a video to learn more!
This gives students a chance to learn how these organelles play a role in each of these cells and how they are different.
Cells alive is a classic online model as well!
If you create 5E lesson plans for the cell and its organelles, these WONDER activities are great for the engage and explore section
Cells Interactive Lessons
Your students are excited about learning now, right? Now it’s time to dive a bit deeper and get into the details. Depending on what WONDER activity you did with your students, your students may already know about the terminology. Now it’s time to take a deeper look at these cell organelles and their functions.
I love an interactive lesson! Interactive lessons are great for delivering content, no matter if you teach by direct instruction, flipped learning, virtual learning, and more.
They are great because they use the 7 steps to help students retain information. One example is that the content is given in pieces and there are embedded questions to help students process the information.
When teaching cells, our state standards require learning about plant and animal cells, as well as bacterial cells.
What are cell organelles and their functions? In these lessons, students will learn all about cells and their organelles such as mitochondrion, vacuole, chloroplasts, and more. They learn the function of each organelle and component, how the cells compare, and more!
The embedded activities include drag-and-drop questions, Venn diagrams, exploring outside resources, and more! These lessons are a hit in the middle school science classroom.
Cells WIDEN Activities
Students can struggle on assessments dealing with the cell and its organelles. Some of the organelles are easy to mix up and you have to make sure they aren’t just “memorizing” these cell parts but are learning how they work together. Here are some activities to help students understand each cell component and its functions as well as an activity that ties it all together!
Cells Rap
If you have been teaching science for any number of years, you know this song, so I must share! It’s both cheesy and helpful!
It’s the Parts of the Cell Rap!
I need you to play this every day that you talk about cells and beyond. Songs stick!
Scavenger Hunt
Another way to help students gain a better understanding of cell structures and their functions. In this activity, students will go around the room to look at particular cell structure and explain how these structures support the life of a plant, animal, and/or bacterial cell.
After the scavenger hunt, students can explain how they all work together to support the life a the cell!
Cell City
One of my absolute favorite activities to do when teaching cells is to have students work in groups to create a cell city! This really gets them thinking about the function of each part of the cell and how they must work together just like different people and buildings help run a city!
Students can create a 3-D model or a picture of their city. I allowed both options in my classroom!
I wish I had a resource to share with you, but I never put one together; however, there are a ton online! All you have to do is a Google search and type in “cell city project”, and a lot of ideas will pop up for you!
I will share this though, humbly! Years and years ago, before Bright in the Middle, I had a blog called STEM A Latte! I shared a little blurb about cell city, so here it is! Enjoy the nostalgia!
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