Cell City Travel Brochure Project

(Independent Project)
Introduction
What do you have in common with a tree, monkey, whale, bacteria, and fungi? The
answer is that you and these organisms are all living things and are all made of cells.

A cell is the most basic unit of life. Our bodies are made up of billions of cells: blood cells,
brain cells, skin cells, and many, many more. When you look at your skin, you are not able
to see each individual cell because they are very small in size. In fact, 1 square centimeter
of your skin contains about 100,000 cells!

Although cells are very tiny and hard to see with the naked eye, they are actually very
complex. Each individual cell is a "city" of life made up of complex organelles or cell
organs. Each of these organelles within the cell has a unique and special job that makes
all life possible.

Your Task
Your task is to create a travel brochure that describes the functions of each organelle
within a cell.

Imagine the cell being similar to a small city, an amusement park, a shopping mall, or a
tourist attraction such as a museum, or sports stadium. Using your creativity and your
knowledge about cell organelles, you will produce a travel brochure to attract visitors to
your "city" or chosen destination.

This brochure will not only attract visitors, but it will also serve as an analogy for each of
the cell organelles' functions. Your brochure should use words and pictures that describe
the place and motivate tourists to travel there.
 The Steps
1. Gather organelle information!
o Use your notes.

o Use the websites giving from the cell WebQuest.

o Use our class textbook.

2. Decide whether your brochure will be based on a plant or animal cell.

3. Choose a location!
o Decide the location or attraction that your brochure will describe.

o Examples include a city, amusement park, restaurant, tourist attractions, museum, sports arena, shopping mall,
factory, or wherever your creativity takes you.

4. Choose at least 10 cell organelles to describe in your brochure.

o Look at the list of organelles to make your choices.
o Cell wall
o Cell membrane
o Nucleus
o Mitochondria
o Lysosomes
o Vacuoles
o Chloroplasts
o Ribosomes
o Endoplasmic reticulum
o Golgi apparatus
o Vesicle
o Cytoskeleton
o Select the appropriate organelles according to your cell type (i.e. only plant cells have chloroplasts).
5. Think of analogies that connect the actual functions of the cell to one of the sites at
your city, chosen tourist attraction, or theme.
o It is very important that your analogy makes sense in relation to the cell structure it is supposed to represent.

o You will be graded on creativity but also on accuracy!

Analogy Example:
If I were describing a cell to be like a castle, I would describe the gate around the castle as a double layered wall with
guards that patrol and control who comes in and out. (This would be an analogy for the cell membrane, you cannot use
this analogy).

6. Put your analogies and creative descriptions into a brochure format.

o You may use the templates provided by Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, or you can make up your own!

7. Use pictures to help grab the attention of your audience!

o You must include a real picture of every part you use as well as a picture of what it is in your location.

o These pictures should reflect what the actual organelles look like or what their function is in the cell.

8. The front cover of your brochure must include the name of your attraction, the type of
cell you are using, and a picture.

9. Your proper heading (name, subject, date, period, and grade) must be on your
brochure.

10. You must define all definitions and analogies in your own word (do not plagiarize.)

11. Use correct spelling and grammar throughout the project.

o Ask at least 5 different people to proofread and edit your brochure.

12. Include a bibliography of your sources.

o Properly cite your sources using MLA format. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

13. And remember, humor and creativity are strongly encouraged!

 Resources
The following web sites offer a great amount of information that will help you to complete
your brochure.
Cell Structure and Function

Molecular Expressions: Animal Cell

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/animalcell.html
This site has great pictures and lots of information about the cell organelle's structure and function.

Molecular Expressions: Plant Cell

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/plantcell.html
This site has great pictures and lots of information about the cell organelle's structure and function.

Cell Tutorial
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/pev/pag
e3.html This site has some cool images and description
of organelles.

Animal or Plant Cell Model

http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/cell_model.
htm Take a virtual tour of an animal or
plant cell.

Ask a Biologist
http://askabiologist.asu.edu/research/buildingblocks/cell
parts.html
More descriptions of cell structure and function. This site has good graphics.

Biology 4 Kids - Cells

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/cell_main.
html Learn more about cell structure and
function

The Virtual Cell

http://www.ibiblio.org/virtualcell/tour/cell/cell.htm
Take a virtual tour of an animal or plant cell
 Reflection Questions
On a separate sheet of paper, please answer the following questions in complete sentences. THIS MUST BE TYPED!

1) What was your favorite part of this project? Explain.

2) What was your least favorite part of this project? Explain.

3) What were some interesting things you learned about the 8 organelles you described this project? Explain.

4) How do you feel you did on your cell travel brochure? If you could do it over again, would you change anything?
Explain.

5) Did you find this web quest to be easy or difficult to use? Explain.

6) What improvements would you make to this web quest? Explain.

7) If you were to grade yourself on your cell travel brochure, what would that be? Explain why.

Congratulations! With the successful completion of your travel brochure, you should now have a better idea on the
structure of a cell and the functions of its organelles. It will be important for you to refer back to your brochure and your
understanding of the cell structure and function as we study single celled organisms like bacteria, learn about cell division
through the process of mitosis, and study the structure of DNA and the importance of cells in our study of genetics. This
knowledge will also be important as we continue to learn about the characteristics and diversity of all living things.