Objectives
- Students will identify the changes that occur in cells during each phase of the cell cycle.
- Students will correlate these changes to the duration of time cells spend in each phase.
- While looking at a section of an onion root tip, students will count the number of cells observed in each phase of the cell cycle They will then estimate the amount of time that a cell spends in each of the phases of the cell cycle.
- Students will watch a simulation of the process of mitosis and answer accompanying questions.
Vocabulary
- anaphase
- cell cycle
- chemotherapy
- interphase
- metaphase
- mitosis
- prophase
- spindle apparatus
- telophase
About the Lesson
In this lesson, students investigate the cell cycle, which includes interphase and mitosis.
A guided lesson video (optional) is also available for this activity. The video is targeted at students and designed to help guide them through the interactive exploration and the concepts covered within.
Students will:
- Identify the major changes that occur in a cell during each phase of the cell cycle by watching a simulation.
- Correlate the time a cell spends in each phase with the number of cells in a rapidly dividing region of an onion root tip undergoing each phase.
- Understand the implications of the differences between cells that have long or short cell cycles.
- Evaluate how an understanding of the cell cycle helps healthcare providers in the treatment of cancer with chemotherapy.
This activity was created using Lua. Learn more about Lua in TI-Nspire here.