Download Content Lesson Plan (45 minutes total)

Content Lesson Plan (45 minutes total)
Aim: What differences can we observe between animal and plant cells?
Objectives:
SWBAT identify and name structures and organelles that differ between animal and
plant cells
SWBAT compare and contrast reasons for differences in organelles using prior
information of plant cells
SWBAT describe how the structure of a cell relates to its function in plant and animal
cells.
Set Up/ Get Started (5 minutes):
Students come into class and pick up their journals and notebooks.
They then will do the following activity:
Copy a diagram of both a plant and animal cell in your journal (from text or from
projector). Label all structures and organelles. Make a venn diagram of structures that
are similar and different for both animal and plant cells.
Purpose Overview (3 minutes)
Teacher refers to previous lessons and connects what the students have done for the
set up/get started activity with the content being discussed in the class. Teacher opens
up a quick discussion on what types of organisms would have an animal cell and plant
cell
Mini-Lesson (10 minutes):
Teacher presents some of the following questions to students and explains that we can
use the information we have just reviewed in our text (or on the projector) and our
previous knowledge to answer them.
Aim: What differences can we observe between animal and plant cells?
Q 1) What are the differences between animal and plant cells?
Use diagram on projector or a picture on the board to identify differences. List
these in a chart .
Q 2) Why are some structures only in plant cells? What may they be used for and why
are they only available in plant cells?
Refer to diagram again. The cell wall of plants is used as a defense mechanism
and also for structural support. The chloroplast of a plant helps provide energy through
photosynthesis.
At this time, teacher begins to hypothesize that since animal cells don’t have
organelles for providing energy, they must gather them from other means. Therefore,
there must be energy obtaining differences between plant and animal cells.Teacher
begins to analyze animal cell and leads into the next question
Q 3) What are the names of structures that are observable in both? How might a animal
cell function differently to support life?
Nucleus, Mitochondria, Cell membrane... etc... Teacher refers to chart and then
identifies the parts of an animal cell using a factory or a city as a metaphor for the
processes of an animal cell.
Reading/Book notes/Activity (10 minutes)
Students read 2-3 pages of their text book that focuses on animal cells and how
they are different from plant cells. They take notes by identifying important definitions
and words and then writing a paragraph or two describing their function in a plant cell
as compared to an animal cell.
At this time, teacher circulates to monitor students progress in identifying
reasons for similarities and differences between animal and plant cells.
Assessment (7 minutes)
Students are asked to work in randomly assigned pairs to finish a quick 5 question
assessment on plant and animal cells taken from regents tests, teachers own
questions, and borrowed exams. Students are instructed to work together and to show
their reasoning through the problems ( i.e process of elimination, identifiying key words
in the question, and a sentence explaining why their choice is correct).
Review/Closure (7 minutes)
Teacher will first collect student assessment and then go over each of the 5
questions looking for answers from the students. Teacher will have students explain
their reasoning and provide further elucidation on topics. Teacher will use the
assessments to reformulate topic for next class and see if there are any other topics
that need reinforcing.
Final thoughts/Clean Up (3 minutes)
Teacher will have students fill out an exit slip with the following question:
Name one structure that is different in plant and animal cells and explain why
you think it is found in one but not the other.
Teacher will use the info provided by students to open up the next class, provide
additional support.
With exactly one minute left, teacher asks students to submit their exit slips and
return all journals and any additional supplies to their place.s