Accelerated Biology
Introduction:
Notebook Lab: Looking at Cells
On your own, create a table (s) or Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic and plant and animal cells.
Hypothesis:
How will you know if you are observing a bacteria, plant, or animal cell?
Methods:
Write down in your lab notebook the directions for focusing a microscope.
Independent variable:
Dependent variable:
For each cell: Draw a picture, have an analysis that gives the main visual structures of the cell and have a mini conclusion that explains why those structures are essential to the cell.
As you are looking at cells, open up Google image and image the cells you are looking at. You will have to look in microscopes and observe cells on your test (so don’t skip looking!) but this will help you to know you are looking at the right thing!
New Idea: If you are interested you can use your iphone to take a picture of what you see in the microscope (hold it in front of the eyepiece, aim, and shoot). Then you can send your pictures to the computer and organize them onto a page, print, and cut. This may take some organizing and printing at home, but is an option.
Data (cells to observe):
Type of
Cell
Instructions for observing
Things to Label:
For all cells you must label the power at which you drew your drawing and the
cell/tissue type you drew.
Analysis:
Summarize the main features of this cell type in once sentence!
Conclusions to draw:
Bacteria Up in the front of the room will be microscopes with bacterial cells.
Note the power that is used at the front of the room.
Observe the shape of cells in both of the microscopes. Draw one of the bacterial samples. Identify the shape:
cocci=round;
bacilli=rod
Why are prokaryotes visually different than all of the other cells you observed?

Onion
Spinach
3 Animal
Tissues
Tear a one-layer thick piece of onion from the onion provided. Put a drop of iodine on the onion and then add a cover slip.
Observe. Then
Tear a one-layer thick piece off a spinach leaf and put on the slide.
Add a drop of water and a cover slip. Observe.
Then
Choose from prepared slides and observe under either 100X or
400X. Choose from:
Blood, Adipose
(fat), Nerve, Liver,
Bone, Muscle, Lung
Observe the tissue structure and draw the cells, labeling the vacuole, nucleus, and cell wall. You may be able to see the cell membrane.
Observe the tissue structure and draw the cells, labeling, the cell membrane, chloroplasts, and cell wall. You did not stain for the nucleus, so you may not be able to see it!
Identify any organelles you see within the cell.
Identify areas of extracellular matrix
(material that attaches cells)
Identify any blood vessels, storage areas, spaces in the tissue.
Given the function of onion tissue, how and why was it different than the other plant cell you observed.
Describe the reason for the chloroplasts in leaf tissue. Explain why the tissue changes when salt-water is added.
For each tissue, try to link the structure to
function.
Conclusions:
How did your data support your understanding of how to identify plant, animal, and prokaryotic cells?
(Give specific examples from your observations!)
How are multicellular organisms different than unicellular organisms? Is that “typical” animal cell and
“typical” plant cell picture in your textbook an accurate portrayal of plant and animal tissues? Why or why not?
How would cells in the leaves of an onion plant compare to the onion bulb that you looked at? Why would they be different?
Explain some limitations of the tool you used to observe cells? Be specific about things you may not have been able to observe and why.
We didn’t look at protist cells. If we were to look at a Euglena, how might it compare and contrast with each of the cell types? Hint: you could Google image Euglena to help you!!!
Plant
Animal
Bacteria