Download Flow of Matter Group Work Project

Modeling the Flow of Matter from
Food Cells to Our Cells
Put yourself in the frame of mind to openly discuss ideas about science and
what might be going on about things that we cannot see.
•As a group you will work for the next two weeks to construct a model of your ideas on
how matter flows from our food’s cells to our cells. At the end of this unit each of you
will construct your own INDIVIDUAL models as the final product of this unit.
• Remember to follow the rules of Deliberation:
1. Gather Knowledge to develop shared group knowledge toward solving
a common problem.
In this phase you’ll want to make sure you:
A. Hear everyone’s ideas.
B. Support each other to take risks in your thinking.
C. Ask each other questions.
D. Understand and offer different ideas.
2. Make a Decision on the course of action.
In this phase not everyone has to agree on the ideas, but everyone
needs to agree on which ideas to try out first.
3. Reflect on your course of action and Revise your ideas if necessary.
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Your group will need to work on the following ideas.
Part 1
Research and decide on a meal (have fun!) that includes food items
from or produced by:
A. a plant
B. an animal
C. a bacterium, and
D. either a fungus or a protist
Example menu: a cheeseburger on a whole wheat bun
whole wheat bun contains:
• sugar and wheat from plants
• milk and butter from an animal
• yeast is a fungus
burger contains:
• muscle from an animal
cheddar cheese contains:
• milk from an animal product
• bacteria
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Part 2
A. Draw and label a representative cell and its organelles from each type of
organism that produced your food. Only one plant cell, one animal cell, and
one bacterial cell are required. If you have extra time, try drawing one fungal
or protist cell (this is optional and extra credit!). Remember: humans are
animals, so our generic animal cell is also the type of cell that our food is
headed to in our bodies!
Example:
whole wheat bun:
• sugar and wheat are products of plant cells
• yeast fungal cells are used to make the bread rise
burger:
• beef contains animal cells
cheddar cheese:
• milk is the product of animal cells
• bacterial cells are used to ferment the milk into
cheese
Make sure to include and label (if present):
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cell wall
extracellular
matrix
plasma
membrane
nucleus
ribosomes
rough and
smooth
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endoplasmic
reticulum
Golgi body
vacuoles
lysosomes
plastids (See
Lab 02:
chloroplasts,
amyloplasts,
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chromoplasts)
mitochondria
cytoskeleton
cilia
flagella
nucleoid region
capsule
pili
B. Research and photocopy or print out an electron micrograph of a specific
type of cell that shows some cellular structures from an organism that your
food came from.
Example:
whole wheat bun -> research a wheat plant cell
whole wheat bun -> research a yeast fungal cell
burger -> research a muscle cell
cheddar cheese -> research lactococci or lactobacilli bacteria
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Part 3
On the cell drawings from Part 2, label at least one organelle or cellular
structure in each cell type where you would find the following molecules. Be
sure to include the following terms where appropriate:
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protein
cellulose
chitin (optional)
starch
glycogen1
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phospholipid
triglyceride2
cholesterol
DNA
RNA
1 – for cool picture of where located in a cell see:
http://bio1151b.nicerweb.net/Locked/media/ch05/05_06Polysacchar_Glycogen.jpg
2 – for cool picture of where located in a fat cell (whose job is to store triglycerides) see:
http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~terry/images/other/adipocyte.gif
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A. Draw a diagram of your ideas on how water, temperature, pH, and digestive
enzymes work to break down the biological macromolecules (polymers) from
Part 3 into smaller subunits (monomers; see list below).
(Remember: polymer + water ---hydrolysis---> monomers). Also include which
polymer(s) could not be broken down and are eliminated as waste. Be sure to
include the following terms if they apply to your foods:
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hydrogen bonds
covalent bonds
hydrolysis
amino acids
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monosaccharides
nucleotides
glycerol
fatty acids
B. Draw a diagram of your ideas on how these smaller subunits are then
reassembled inside of your cells (our generic human animal cell). (Remember:
monomers ---dehydration reaction---> polymer + water). Be sure to include the
following terms:
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dehydration reaction
proteins
carbohydrates
lipids
nucleic acids
C. In bullet points include your ideas of why this human cell might need
these monomers from our food and what it would do with them.
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Assemble together all of your materials and make sure all group members
have copies of the information. You will each now use this information to
construct individual explanatory models as homework in order to answer
the question, “Are we really what we eat?” See the checklist handout to
make sure that you include everything that you will need for your model.
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