Lady Scientists taking Tall Paul apart!
Putting Sweet Sue back together... "now how do we get that pancreas and appendix back in there?"
Harper and Gwen's edible mega "cell!"

In Week #3, we get to know the miraculous cell!

Put your seat belts on ladies, as this week we delve into the marvelous miracle, the tiny unit of life, called the cell. Once thought to be "simple," scientists now know that cells are crazily complicated, containing molecular machines that rival what the best human engineers can design. But before we get into all that fun, let's remind ourselves of what we did last time we met!

Week #2 Summary

During Week #2, the lady scientists examined their apples to see which ones mummified the best. Many were quite stinky and colorful (due to molding) and others were remarkably preserved! When we return to class on Monday, September 14th, we'll all discuss the results of this experiment and learn how to post our experimental progress in laboratory notebooks. 

We also had the opportunity to take apart Tall Paul and Sweet Sue to get a view of their insides! When I asked the young ladies to identify the various body parts, they were really knowledgeable, having recognized the heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys and intestines. Less obvious structures were the liver, diaphragm, bladder and appendix.

It was a tight getting all the organs back inside the body cavities. The lungs and heart find their position inside the thoracic cavity, with the liver, stomach, kidneys, intestines and bladder inside the abdominal cavities. The diaphragm separates these two major cavities.

In the same way the body has organs and organ systems which are highly specialized to carry out specific tasks, so also do cells posses "little organs," called organelles (review pp. 26 - 31). 

What to expect in Week #3

To learn more about the little organs inside of cells, please review pages 26 to 31 in the textbook. This will provide the framework by which the lady scientists can build their own cells from gelatin and candies this coming week at home (see p. 35, Project: Edible Cell). 
  • Gelatin - represents the cell cytoplasm, the fluid-filled substance which houses all the organelles.
  • Jelly beans or Peanut M & M candies - simulate the energy-producing mitochondria.
  • Skittles, Everlasting Gobstoppers, or Smarties - represent the lysosomes, which are responsible for destroying bacteria, viruses, and general clean-up in the cell.
  • Starburst Gummiburst or Smarties - comprise the Golgi body, which simulates a postal center, tagging and sending newly synthesized proteins to other parts of the cell.
  • Fruit Roll Ups - represent what is called the endoplasmic reticulum, and is responsible for making cell proteins and lipids.
  • Nerds or cake sprinkles - simulate ribosomes, which are the sites on which proteins are knitted together or made.
  • Tubular cake sprinkles or Twizzler Pull and Peels - model the centrioles, which direct cell division.
  • Big Gumdrop - represents the cell nucleus, which houses the blueprint of the cell, the DNA.
As you can see, cells - like our bodies - have their own organs, each specialized to carry out a very specific task.

"Knitting" a protein

This week, you are all going to simulate a very complicated activity that your cells perform all the time with their own knitting machines, called ribosomes. With a knitting loom and yarn, you are going to make your own "proteins." I'll provide the yarn for all, and looms for those of you who prepaid for these already. 

Before class on Monday, September 14th, please complete the following:

  1. Read and review Chapter 1 from the textbook
  2. Bring to class your textbook, pen, laboratory notebook, and looms (if I did not pick this up for you) so we can simulate protein synthesis (I will provide yarn for everyone)
Image Credits:
Banner: Cover of Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology
Buttons: Stomach cartoon from Shutterstock.com; brain, lungs, and heart from Vectorstock.com.