Name_________________Period_________

Lab:Howshouldweclassifythemysteryorganism?

Pleaseworkaloneoringroupsof2or3,nogroupsof4.
Youshouldtyperightinthisdocument.

Introduction
:Plantandanimalscellshavemanyorganellesincommon.Yourecentlylearned
abouttheseorganellesandtheirfunctions.Someorganelles,however,areuniquetoplantcells
andviceversa.Forexample,plantcellshaveacellwall,butanimalcellsdonot.
(canyouthink
ofsomethingelseplantcellshavethatanimalcellsdonot?)
Thesedifferencescanbeusedto
helpdistinguishbetweenplantandanimalcells.

plantcellshaveacellwall,andanimalcellsdonothaveacellwall.

YourTask
:Youneedtoobserveandrecordthetraitsofanunknownmicroscopicorganism.
Thenyouneedto
classify
itbasedonwhatyouknowaboutthecharacteristicsofplantand
animalcells.
(Whatdoesitmeantoclassifyanorganism?)

classifyanorganism:Alllivingorganismsareclassifiedintogroupsbasedonverybasic,
sharedcharacteristics.Organismswithineachgrouparethenfurtherdividedintosmaller
groups.Thesesmallergroupsarebasedmoreondetailedsimilarities.

MainQuestion
:
Howshouldtheunknownmicroscopicorganismbeclassified?

Classificationoftheunknownmicroscopeorganism:

AvailableMaterials
:Youhaveaccesstothefollowingmaterialstohelpyouwithyour
investigation:(Highlighted=colorcodefordescriptions/observationsbelow)
Plantcellslides(lettuce)
Animalcellslides(humancheekcells)
Unknownorganismsample
Microscope
InternetResources

GettingStarted
:Toanswerthemainquestionfromabove,youwillneedtoconductasystematic
observationofthecellsamplesyouvebeenprovided
(whatdoessystematicmean?)
.Hereare
somequestionstothinkaboutforeachtask:

Systematic:
doneoractingaccordingtoafixedplanorsystem.

Whattypeofdatawillyouneedtocollect?
Thinkaboutthefollowingwithyourgroup

datatobecollected:Wewillcollectthefollowingdatafirstwelookattheoutlineofallofthe
cells,andseewhetherthecheekcellortheplantcellrelatesmorewiththemysterycell,
secondlywelookattheshapeofthecell.Wewillrecordallourinformationinbothorjournals
andourcomputers.Weneedthejournalsfordrawingpictures,butwewillmakesuretoinclude
picturesinourcomputerstoo,andwewilluseourcomputersfortypingupsimilaritiesand
differences.

Whattype
of
measurements
or
observations
willyouneedtomakeduringyour
investigation?Hint:Whattypesofthingsdidwedointhemicroscopelab?

Wewillneedtotypedownourobservations,sowecanhaveourwrittenthoughtsdown,
andnotjusthavetogobymemory.Doingthatwillmakeiteasiertocompareandcontrastthe
cellsthroughoutthelab.

How
willyoukeeptrackofthe
similarities
or
differences

youseebetweenthedifferent
cells?
Wewillkeeptrackofthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbymakingavenndiagramorwewilltype
thesimilaritiesinblueandtypethedifferencesinadifferentcolor(eachitemwillbegivena
color,thatwayyoucantellwhichonegoestowhichcolor.

Howwillyoucollectyourdata?Thinkaboutthefollowingwithyourgroup
Howwillyoukeeptrackofyourdata?Wewillwriteinourjournals,butmostlytypeallthe
informationintothisdoc.
Howwillyouorganizeyourdata?LikeIsaidabove,wewillcolorcodeeverythingsoit
willbeeasiertoread.
Howwillyoumakesureyoucollecthighqualitydataandreduceerrors?Inorderforus
tocollecthighqualitydataandreduceerrorswewilltalkoutwhatweneedtodofirst,
beforewebegintheexperiment.

Howwillyouanalyzeyourdata?Thinkaboutthefollowingwithyourgroup
Howwillyou
define
thedifferentcategoriesofcells?(Ex.whatmakesaplantcell
differentfromananimalcell)?Todefinethedifferentcategoriesofacellwewillmake
onesectiondedicatedtoaplantcellandonesectiondedicatedtoananimalcell,then
youwillbeabletotellwhichiswhich.
Whattypeof
calculations
willyouneedtomake?
How
areyougoingtopresentyour
data
?Pictures,tables,graphs,sketches,charts?
Wewillpresentourdatathroughbothavenndiagramandpictures.

DataCollection:
Usethisspacetocollectyourdataandmakeobservations:
(everythingbelowisnowcolorcoded,thehighlightingabovedoesnothaveanythingtodowith
thehighlightingbelow.)

PlantCell(lettuce):
Observation1:Whenyoulookthroughthemicroscopeyoucanseetinylinesthroughoutthe
lettuce.Whenyouarelookingatapieceoflettuceyoucanseethatithaslightercoloredlines
thatconnectthepiecesoflettucetooneandother,butwhenlookingthroughthemicroscope
youcanseethatthoselightercoloredlineshaveevensmallerlinesinsideofthem,thoselines
arethecells.Thosecellslooklikeastrandofhaironlowpowerbutwhenincreasedtomedium
powerthecellsnolongerlooklikeastrandofhair,theynowlookliketinycrystallizedrocks.We
knowthelettuceisaplantcellbecauseoftheshapeandtextureit.
measurements:
40x/100x
=62.5x(plantcell)
1600x

AnimalCells(humancheekcells):Whenyoulookthroughthemicroscopeitlookslikenuclei.
Thenucleilookscircularandtheylookliketheyareattachedtoeachotheratthehip
measurements:
40x/100x
=62.5x
16000x

MysteryCell:Whenlookingthroughthemicroscopethemysterycelllooksliketinylinesmoving
likeawormbutmuchfaster.Weclassifiedthemysterycellasananimalcellbecauseofthe
structureofitandthewayitsmoving.Similartoacheekcellexample:sizeandmovement.
Wewereunabletogetafocusedclearpictureoftheanimalcell,butweattachedthebestone
wecouldgetbelow.
100x/100x*400
=2.5x
1600x

TheInvestigationReport
:Onceyouhavecompletedyourresearch,youwillneedtoanswerthe
followingquestions.

1. Whatquestionwereyoutryingtoanswerandwhy?Weweretryingtoanswerwetherthe
mysterycellwasaplantoranimalcell.
2. How
didyouconductthisinvestigation,(whatwasyourthoughtprocess,howdidyou
begintocollectdata)and
why
didyoudoitthisway?Webeganconductingour
investigationbydecidingthatonecellwouldbeacertaincolor,forexamplewesaidthe
animalcellcouldbepurple,theplantcellwouldbeblue,andthemysterycellwouldbe
green.Wediditthiswaybecausewethoughtitwouldbeeasiertocomparethemandit
wouldbeeasiertofindinthegoogledocs.

3. Whatisyour
argument
?What
evidence
doyouhavetosupportthisargument?Present
allofyourdataincludingpictures,figures,diagrams,andtablesembeddedintothe
report.
4. Whatotherclaimsdidyourgroupdiscussbeforedecidingonthatone?Whatmadeyou
decidetoabandontheotherclaims?Howconfidentareyouthatyourclaimisvalid?
Whatpossibleerrorscouldyouhaveandwhy?Arethereotherpossibleanswers?

5. Whatarethedifferencesandsimilaritiesbetweenplantandanimalcells?
Isubmittedavenndiagramofcomparisonbetweenandanimalandplantcell
second.
venndiagram=revision2

Besuretoincludewhat
evidence
youhavetosupportyourclaimsandwherethis
evidencecomesfrom.Ifyouusedoutsidesourcessuchasyourbookorinternetsites,
youneedtocitethem.

Bonusquestion:Youareoutsidehikingandyouhappenuponanorganismthatyoudo
notrecognize.Describetheorganismandcreateasystemthatwouldhelpyouclassify
thisorganism.Howwouldyoudifferentiateitfromotherorganisms?Useamethodthat
couldapplytomanydifferentorganisms.