Plant cells have three parts animal cells don't: a cell wall for support, chloroplasts for photosynthesis and a large vacuole that keeps the cell firm. Both kinds have mitochondria (for energy) and ribosomes (for making proteins), and how many of each a cell has depends on its job.
A tree can stand 80 metres tall without a single bone. A lettuce leaf goes limp in the fridge, then crisp again in cold water. Both come down to parts that only plant cells have.
Every cell has a nucleus, membrane and cytoplasm. This lesson finds the parts that are different, and why.
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: what's missing?
ExploreTry it on the board and compare what happens with your prediction.
Explore: compare the cells
Click a part to see what it is and where it is found.
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Find the three parts that only the plant cell has.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
Now find the mitochondria in both cells.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
ExplainUse the particle model to explain what you saw.
Explain: what each part is for
In your book: draw a plant cell and an animal cell side by side. Label every part, colour the plant-only parts, and write one line on what each plant-only part is for.
Match each part to its job.
Cell wall
Chloroplast
Large vacuole
Mitochondria
Ribosomes
Plant cells only, or both plant and animal cells?
Cell wall
Chloroplasts
Large permanent vacuole
MitochondriaPlants respire too, day and night.
Ribosomes
Nucleus
Elaborate TypicalUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: a root hair cell
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Find every part of the root hair cell and the leaf cell.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
Elaborate WiderUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: energy for movement
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Find every part of the muscle cell.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
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
Only plant cells have a cell wall (support), chloroplasts (photosynthesis) and a large vacuole (keeps the cell firm, stores sap).
Plant and animal cells both have a nucleus, membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria (release energy from food) and ribosomes (make proteins).
How many of each part a cell has depends on its job: muscle cells have many mitochondria; root hair cells have no chloroplasts.
For teachers
Students identify the cell wall, chloroplasts and large vacuole as plant-only structures and explain each, describe mitochondria and ribosomes in both cell types, and link a cell's organelles to its job (AC9S8U01, nodes 4 and 5). About 25 minutes.
I can name the parts only plant cells have and say what each is for.
I can say which parts plant and animal cells share.
I can explain why some cells have more of one part than others.
Before class
A concept tutorial for introducing or revising the idea; it pairs with onion and cheek cell slides. Set the width with ?width=minimum, typical (default) or wider. One lesson for two nodes (plant-specific structures, other organelles), after What does every cell have? and before Why are cells different shapes?
Not hinge nodes. The misconceptions: animal cells have walls; plants don't need mitochondria because they photosynthesise; every plant cell has chloroplasts. The prediction and the Typical step target them.
Board notes: the diagrams are not to scale and show only some mitochondria and chloroplasts. Ribosomes are too small to draw at this scale, so they appear in the questions only.
Running the lesson
Engage: tally the predictions. 'Mitochondria' means the student thinks plants don't respire.
Explore: ask what the plant needs that each plant-only part provides.
Explain: the matching and the sort are the success criteria; the lettuce and muscle questions are the 'why'.
In your own words: the labelled pair of cells is the evidence.
The hard part (on purpose)
Explaining why a part exists, not just naming it. When a student lists parts, ask what the plant would do without that part, and wait for the reason before moving on.
When students get stuck
A student gives an animal cell a cell wall. Ask: What holds an animal up? Fix: A skeleton (or water pressure in soft animals). Animal cells have a flexible membrane only.
A student says plants don't have mitochondria because they make their own food. Ask: Once a plant has made glucose, how does it get energy out of it? Fix: Respiration, in mitochondria, like animals. Plants respire all the time, day and night.
A student thinks every plant cell is green. Ask: Do roots get light? Fix: No, so root cells have no chloroplasts. Parts follow the job.
Stretch and support
Stretch: Fungi have cell walls but no chloroplasts. What does that suggest about how they get food? (They don't photosynthesise: they absorb food from what they grow on.)
Support: Give a two-column table to fill: Part | Plant only or both | Job.
Where it leads
Next: Why are cells different shapes? (specialisation, AC9S8U02 node 1).
In class: onion skin and Elodea leaf (chloroplasts visible) beside cheek cells; wilted and crisp lettuce in salt water and fresh water.
What each step is for
Engage: what's missing?: Students often think animal cells have walls, or that plants don't need mitochondria because they make their own food; the options test both.
Explore: compare the cells: Finding the plant-only parts side by side with an animal cell, then the mitochondria in both, separates 'plant-specific' from 'every cell'.
Explain: what each part is for: Tying each plant-only part to something plants need and animals don't (support without a skeleton, making food, staying firm) explains the differences instead of listing them.
Elaborate: a root hair cell: A plant cell without chloroplasts shows that parts depend on the cell's job, not just on being a plant.
Elaborate: energy for movement: Linking organelle numbers to a cell's work extends 'specialisation' from shape to what is inside.
Now you can
Name the parts only plant cells have and say what each is for.
Say which parts plant and animal cells share.
Explain why some cells have more of one part than others.