Edible Cells....Yumm!!
by Kathi Novotny
December 14, 2009
The Axtell 7th graders are currently studying the basic unit of life: cells. As a final activity to measure their comprehension and prepare them for their upcoming assessment, the students were involved in a two-part activity. In the first part, they constructed models of both plant and animal cells by using Play-Doh for cytoplasm, strips of t-shirts for cell membranes, kidney beans for mitochondria, cotton balls for vacuoles, rubber bands for nuclear membranes, poker chips for nucleus’s, beads for nucleolus’s, yarn with beads for rough endoplasmic reticulum’s, green rocks for chloroplasts, and cardboard strips for the cell walls. The students thought that was fun because they were given the opportunity to play with Play-Doh and that doesn’t happen very often in junior high.
For the second part of the activity, the students drew a cell part from a bag. Then they were given a toothpick to make a flag for their cell part on which they placed on a huge cookie. There were two cookies, one representing an animal cell and the other a plant cell. Frosting on the cookies represented cytoplasm, gummy worms were used for the cell membranes, orange slices for mitochondria, marshmallows for vacuoles, string licorice for nuclear membranes, small cookie for nucleus, Milk Duds for nucleolus, string licorice with miniature chocolate chips for rough endoplasmic reticulum, green peanut M & M’s for chloroplasts, and graham crackers for the cell wall. After the picture was taken, the students were allowed to eat their cells. I believe they enjoyed this part the best!
