Cells

Class 9 - Science

Theme - Cells

What is common to all living organisms – large and small, plants and animals? It is that they are all made up of cells. It is one of the marvels of nature that the endless variety of living organisms on Earth are constructed of such similar units. Nevertheless, why do we call cells the fundamental unit of life?

To understand organisms, it is necessary to understand what cells are made up of, their role in the makeup of an organism, and so on. It is important for learners to understand:

1. The structure and functions that are common to all cells
2. Specialization of cells in different tissues

The basic functions of organisms are carried out in the cell structures and there are specific cells that carry out specialized roles. How many different cells are there in the human body? How did so many different cells arise from a single cell? If the mechanism that identifies cells to take on different forms could be discovered, we might be able to identify cells to take on the forms that we need.

This catalogue has a few interesting resources that can make teaching the concept of cells to students a very interesting journey.

Resource 1 With the help of this resource, students will be able to understand that uncontrolled growth and division of cells leads to cancer. This video depicts uncontrolled cancerous growth and the journey of cancer cells, how they traverse to the different parts of the body through the circulatory system, and so on.   (The link to the video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeUANxFVXKc )
Resource 2 Why are there are so many different forms of cells and how do we differentiate them? If the mechanism that identifies cells to take on different forms could be discovered, we might be able to identify cells to take on the forms that we need. (The link to the videos are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ET4bbkTm0)
Resource 3 With this resource, learners will be able to construct an understanding of the underlying logic to the sequence of events in mitosis, using an activity. In the activity, learners construct an understanding of the underlying logic to the sequence of events in mitosis. (The worksheet for students is available mitosis sequencing.docx and the answer-key for the same is available at mitosis worksheet.docx)