Learn about cell parts and structure with lab activities, using a microscope. Look at onion and elodea (a type of water plant) cells under a microscope at different power strengths. Have students draw what they see under low and high power. Afterward, students can perform a lab by taking animal cells from the inside of the students' cheek with a swab. Then the students will create a slide by wiping the glass with the used swab. After examining the animal cell structure, students should name all the parts of plant and animals cells and the differences between them.
Mitosis is when a plant goes through the process of cell division, and an onion mitosis lab activity is a simple way to learn about the process. Onion root tips are commonly used in this lab because they grow quickly and the cells are larger than other plants. Mitosis begins with prophase, and students should observe cells that have sausage-like shapes within them. Other phases that students should observe are metaphase, anaphase and telophase. Once this cell reproduction is complete the cell should separate into two cells called cytokinesis.
Cellular processes can be learned through a lab of adding salt to elodea cells. Students will observe the process of osmosis, which is when water moves to an area of low area concentration from an area of high water concentration. Students will first create a wet mount slide with normal elodea from an aquarium. This will be the control or normal group before the experiment. Then, another slide is made with elodea and salt added. After a few minutes, student should observe the slides under a microscope to see the effect of osmosis. The chloroplasts should clump into the middle of the cells while the normal elodea should have chloroplasts that have spread throughout the cells.
Bacteria cells are different than animal and plant cells, and students should have a cell lab activity to learn about bacteria. One lab experiment tests hands before and after washing. Mark a petri dish, which is a bacteria-growing lab dish with a nutrient called agar, with four quadrants using a marker on the plastic. Wipe an unwashed finger in quadrant one and a finger washed with only water in quadrant two. Another student will wipe quadrant three with a moist unwashed finger, and quadrant four will be wiped with a finger washed with soap and water. The petri dish should be incubated for 24 hours and then observed.