Plant and animal cells share three parts: the nucleus (the control centre, holding DNA), the cell membrane (controls what gets in and out) and the cytoplasm (where reactions happen).
A cheek cell and a leaf cell look completely different. Look closer and they share three parts. Every job in a cell depends on them.
Every cell, from your skin to a gum leaf, is built on the same three parts.
Engage: Commit to a prediction before you test anything. A wrong guess is fine: it shows you what to look for.
Explore: Try it on the board and compare what happens with your prediction.
Explain: Use the particle model to explain what you saw.
Elaborate: Use the same idea in a new context.
Evaluate: Look back at your first ideas and what changed.
WidthMore contexts, same idea.
Make your prediction first. Help opens once you've locked it in.
EngageCommit to a prediction before you test anything. A wrong guess is fine: it shows you what to look for.
Engage: the cell's control centre
ExploreTry it on the board and compare what happens with your prediction.
Explore: find the shared parts
Click each part to read what it does and where it's found.
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Find the nucleus, cell membrane and cytoplasm in both cells.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
ExplainUse the particle model to explain what you saw.
Explain: three shared parts
In your book: draw a simple cell and label the three shared parts with what each does.
Match each part to its job.
Nucleus
Cell membrane
Cytoplasm
Elaborate TypicalUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: what only plants have
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Find the cell wall, chloroplasts, vacuole and mitochondria (wherever they are).
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
Where is each part found?
Nucleus
Cell membrane
Mitochondria
Cell wall
Chloroplasts
Large vacuole
Elaborate WiderUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: no nucleus
EvaluateLook back at your first ideas and what changed.
Evaluate: look back
Write one sentence: "At first I thought… Now I think… because…"
Revision summary
Plant and animal cells share the nucleus (holds DNA, controls the cell), cell membrane (controls what gets in and out) and cytoplasm (where reactions happen).
Both also have mitochondria (release energy).
Plant cells also have a cell wall, chloroplasts (where photosynthesis captures light energy to make food) and a large vacuole.
For teachers
Students identify the nucleus, cell membrane and cytoplasm in plant and animal cells and describe each one's function (AC9S8U01, node 3, a hinge node). About 20 minutes.
I can state the function of the nucleus, cell membrane and cytoplasm.
I can link a feature of each to its function.
I can explain that plant and animal cells both have these three parts.
Before class
A concept tutorial for introducing or revising the idea; it does not replace microscope work. Set the width with ?width=minimum, typical (default) or wider.
The hinge risk is functions learned as labels. Keep asking "what would go wrong without it?".
Board notes: the membrane and wall are thin rings; students click on the line. The plant cell's membrane sits just inside the wall.
Running the lesson
Engage: tally the answers; 'membrane' is a common wrong one.
Explore: ask what the two cells have in common before reading anything.
Explain: the match is the minimum; the membrane question gives 'selectively permeable' meaning.
The hard part (on purpose)
Giving each part its job, not just its name. When a student lists parts, ask what would go wrong in the cell without that one.
When students get stuck
A student confuses the cell wall with the membrane. Ask: Which one did you find in both cells? Fix: The membrane (both); the wall is an extra layer outside it in plants only.
A student says the nucleus 'thinks'. Ask: What does the nucleus hold? Fix: Instructions (DNA). It doesn't decide; it stores the recipe.
Stretch and support
Stretch: Red blood cells have no nucleus. What can't they do, and why might that be acceptable for them?
Support: Give a labelled cell diagram with three blank job boxes to fill while clicking.
Where it leads
Next: what plant cells have extra and why (node 4), then specialised cells in Year 8's second unit.
In class: an egg as a giant cell model (membrane under the shell, yolk as a food store, not a nucleus); a jelly-and-fruit cell model.
What each step is for
Engage: the cell's control centre: Students often think the membrane or the whole cell 'controls' things; naming the nucleus as the DNA store prepares heredity later.
Explore: find the shared parts: Finding the same three parts in both cells makes 'shared structures' a discovery rather than a list.
Explain: three shared parts: Matching each structure to its function, then a feature to the function, is the node's checkpoint.
Elaborate: what only plants have: Finding the extra plant structures against the shared ones previews node 4 and checks the shared set is secure.
Elaborate: no nucleus: Removing the nucleus tests the 'control centre' idea by its consequence.
Now you can
State the function of the nucleus, cell membrane and cytoplasm.
Link a feature of each to its function.
Explain that plant and animal cells both have these three parts.