Cell Poster Project
Instructions: You will produce a poster with a diagram of a cell that includes all of the cell organelles
listed on the next page. Choose your list of organelles based upon whether or not you want to make a
poster of a plant cell or an animal cell (for this assignment, each has the same number of organelles).
The key to earning the maximum number of points for this assignment is to be as accurate as you can
when depicting cell organelles, using as many careful 2-D drawings that you make. It is easy to spot a
poster in which minimal effort was used because the drawings are sloppy, lack clarity and vibrant colors.
Yours should reflect the hard work and time that you put into it.
The other important part of this assignment is that you will be assigning a more commonly recognizable
analogy or metaphor to each of the cell organelles, and finding pictures of those analogous objects to
put on your poster so that it is clear to the viewer which object goes with which organelle. For instance,
you might use picture of a government building as an analogy for the nucleus. This picture, clipped from
a magazine, newspaper, or even printed from the web, will be pasted onto your poster somewhere
outside of your cell drawing and you will use a line to connect it to your drawing of the nucleus inside
the cell drawing. You will do this for each of the organelles, finding meaningful analogous objects that
make sense to represent the organelles you will connect them to.
On the bottom of your poster, you will write (or attach a typed version of) a key that will explain why
each analogous object image was used to describe each cell organelle. This must demonstrate your
knowledge of the function of the cell organelles on the poster, or the key will not make sense of your
use of analogies. You must be creative in your choosing of proper analogous objects. Do not copy other
groups …create your own analogies, there are plenty to choose from. The more creative yours are, the
more points they will earn you, but they must also be fitting for the cell organelles they represent or the
creativity will be wasted. If you can manage to make your analogous objects relate to a single theme,
you may be able to earn extra credit (again, as long as they are creative and fitting).
Here is a sample of what a poster may look like (please do not copy this one if you want points):
(I have obviously left a lot of pictures out so that your creativity can run wild)
Picture 8
Picture 2
Picture 7
Picture 6
Picture 3
Picture 5
Picture 4
Name: __________________________
Organelle Lists:
Plant Cell
1. Nucleus
2. Nuclear Membrane
3. Central Vacuole
4. Cell Wall
5. Chloroplast
Animal Cell
1. Nucleus
2. Nucleolus
3. Nuclear Membrane
4. Cell Membrane
5. Mitochondrion
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mitochondrion
Cell Membrane
Cytoplasm
Rough Endoplasmic
Reticulum
6. Cytoplasm
7. Rough Endoplasmic
Reticulum
8. Smooth Endoplasmic
Reticulum
10. Smooth Endoplasmic
Reticulum
11. Golgi Apparatus (or
complex)
12. Ribosome
9. Golgi Apparatus (or
complex)
10. Ribosome
11. Lysosome
12. Vacuole
Grading Rubric:
0 Points
Cell drawing clearly
lacked effort, not 3-D,
unclear, and/or missing
more than ½ the
organelles on the list
Organelle metaphors/
analogies are illogical or
not present, and/or
pictures do not make
any sense
4 Points
Cell drawing is not very
clear, poor attempt at
3-D, or missing more
than 2 organelles on
the list
Organelle metaphors/
analogies are not very
logical or creative, or
pictures are unclear
and irrelevant
Key to metaphors/
analogies is missing
several parts,
insufficiently
explained, and/or does
not at all link
organelles to pictures
Key to metaphors/
analogies is missing 1-2
parts, not at all
thorough and/or does
not properly link
organelle functions to
pictures used
8 Points
Cell drawing is less than
clear, 3-D, and/or
complete with all but 12 organelles on the list
12 Points
Cell drawing is clear,
realistic, 3-D, and
complete with all
organelles in the list
Organelle metaphors/
analogies are a bit of a
stretch, or not
especially creative, and
pictures are not
clear/relevant
Key to metaphors/
analogies is complete
but not very thorough,
and more or less links
organelle functions to
pictures used
Organelle metaphors/
analogies are logical
and creative, and the
pictures of them used
look clear and relevant
Key to metaphors/
analogies is complete,
thorough, and fully
explains link between
the organelle’s function
and the picture used