Cell-ebrate The Differences!
Blood
Use the prepared slide to view human blood on high power. Draw one of the most common types of
cells you can see.
Mammalian Skeletal Muscle
Examine the prepared slide of mammal skeletal muscle. Use high power and identify and label the
following parts: nuclei and striations (stripes). Draw some of the cells you see and provide as much
detail as possible.
Neurons
Observe the structure of a neuron using the image from under a microscope. Use
the diagram on the right to help you recognize some of the features of a neuron.
Draw one motor neuron and provide as much detail as possible.
Elodea
Make a wet mount of one Elodea leaf. Focus on one layer of cells. Draw only the outline of 6 or 7 of
the Elodea cells to show how they fit together. Draw the contents of only one cell. Label these parts
in one cell of your drawing: cell wall, chloroplast, cell membrane, vacuole (if visible), and cytoplasm.
Privet Leaf
Examine the prepared slide of the cross section of a leaf under low, medium, and high power. Draw
the different kinds of cells you observe. Be sure to clearly show the different shapes the cells have as
well as how the cells are arranged in the cross section of the leaf.
Intestine Cells
Examine the prepared slide of the cross section of columnar epithelial cells from the intestine under
low, medium, and high power. Draw the different kinds of cells you observe. Be sure to clearly show
the different shapes the cells have as well as how the cells are arranged.
Name ___________________________
Block _________
Date ___________________
Cell-ebrate The Differences!
human blood smear, ___________
mammalian skeletal muscle, ___________
neuron, ___________
Elodea, ___________
a) How many different kinds of cell shapes do you
see? Describe them.
b) Describe how each of the different kinds of cells is
arranged.
Privet leaf, ___________
What evidence do you see to support that the
intestines are organs?
Intestine, ___________
Summary
1. How are all of the animal cells you observed alike?
2. In general, what differentiates plant cells from animal cells?
Application
1.
Put a check () by each part on this list which you would expect to have cells containing
chloroplasts.
maple leaf
grass roots
rose flower petal
skin on your arm
skin of a cucumber
radish seed coat
2. What do all of the cells you checked above have in common?
3. How were the animal cells you examined different from the drawing of a typical animal cell on
page 41 of Life Science? What reasons might account for these differences?
4. Would you expect muscle cells to contain more or fewer mitochondria than skin cells? Explain
your answer.
5. The drawing on the right shows a single xylem cell. Look at the xylem cells
shown on p. 255 in Life Science. Defend the statement that ―a xylem cell’s
form fits its function.
6. Read page 38 and refer to your drawing of a muscle cell and to the
information about muscle cells and red blood cells on pages 493 and 551 of
Life Science. Why is a muscle cell shaped differently than a red blood cell?
7. What does the shape of a nerve cell tell you about its role in the organism?
8. Provide one or more examples from your everyday life to illustrate the concept of ― form fits
function.
9. Most chloroplasts are found in the tissue layer of the leaf right below the thin protective layer
of cells on the leaf’s surface. See the diagram on p. 252 of Life Science. What do you think is
the advantage of the location of this layer?
10. Would you expect to find the same kinds of tissues in a root as in a leaf? Explain your answer.
11. In a multicellular organism, cells with the same function are organized together within that
organism. How does this benefit the organism?
12. Use an example from your everyday life to illustrate the concept that specialization and
division of labor can make a system more efficient.