Cells: The Basic Units of Life

Lab Brief #1

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Living things break the rules of non-living things — find the rule they break.

What you'll learn

Cells are the basic units of life. All living things are made of one or more cells. Plant cells have cell walls and chloroplasts that animal cells lack.

Key words

cell
The tiny building block that makes up all living things.

Make a hypothesis first

Predict: what will happen to the plant if you change the water?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

microscope (or magnifying glass)
onion skin

⚠️ Safety first

Check glassware for chips before use and carry it with both hands.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Prepare a wet-mount slide of an onion skin and observe it under a microscope (or magnifying glass). Draw and label the cell wall, cell membrane, and nucleus.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Watch carefully for any changes and note the time.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Create a data table to organize your measurements.

Question 1 of 3

What is the basic unit of life?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

Which structure is found in plant cells but not animal cells?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

How many chromosomes do human body cells have?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌳 Trees can talk to each other through underground fungus networks.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Mitosis: Cell Division All lessons

🎯

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Your own body is doing this thousands of times every second.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find one thing about your body that's different from a friend's. Wonder why.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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