Introduction

As we move through the Animals unit, we zoom into the basic unit of all living organisms on Earth: the cell. Animals, plants, and several types of decomposers are multicellular organisms that are made of millions of cells "stuck together" to create a "body". For single celled organisms like bacteria and some groups of fungi and protists, individuals ARE one cell.

For this task, you are asked to view several sites to understand the size, anatomy (structure), and functions of cells.

Answer questions in your notebook on a page entitled
Cell Size, Structure, and Function WebQuest

1. View these sites and answer the questions that follow in your notebook.

- - Scale of Universe: http://htwins.net/scale2/
  - Cell Size and Scale: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/scale/

Questions

a. What is the size range that you found for cells?

b. What are three things that are smaller than a cell? (Use Human Egg Cell as the standard size)

c. What was surprising about cell size (for example, what other things/objects share the same size range as cells?)

2. View this interactive and address the questions that follow in your notebook.

- - Inside a Cell: https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/insideacell20/

Questions

d. Toggle back and forth between the buttons at the top of the animation ("Plant", "Animal", or "Bacteria"). Each time you click on a cell type, look at the descriptions inside the cell diagram. What do you notice all of the cells have in common?

e. Select one cell type - plant, animal, or bacteria - and click on the 5 functions. Watch/listen/read captions. Which process do you think is most in line with the function of GROWTH? In other words, which process is the most important in order for organisms to grow? Explain why you selected that process.

When finished, show your notebook page to Mrs. Mason. This is a 5-point graded assignment.