Cell City Travel Brochure 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.
Good luck and happy adventures!
The Steps
1. Gather organelle information!
o
o
Refer to your notes and textbook in Chapter 3
Look at provided web site resources (on my teacher page)
2. Decide whether your brochure will be based on a plant or animal cell.
3. Choose a location!
o
o
Decide the location or attraction that your brochure will describe.
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
o
o
8 cell organelles to describe in your brochure.
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 complex
o Vesicle
o Cytoskeleton
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
o
It is very important that your analogy makes sense in relation to the cell structure it is supposed to represent.
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).
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
o
You must include a real picture of every part you use as well as a picture of what it is in your location.
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. Use correct spelling and grammar throughout the project.
o
Ask at least 5 different people to proofread and edit your brochure.
11. Include a bibliography of your sources.
o
Properly cite your sources using MLA format. Refer to your "Basic Formatting of Electronic Resources" worksheet for MLA guidelines.
12. And remember, humor and creativity are strongly encouraged!
** See Mrs. Wardle for samples if you need ideas on how to start your brochure.
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.
Inside a Cell
http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/basics/cell/
This site has descriptions of some cell organelles.
Organelles of Eukaryotic Cells
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/cell_organelles.html
This site has easy to understand cell definitions for some organelles.
Cell Tutorial
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/pev/page3.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/cellparts.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
Rubric
You will be evaluated on the following:
o
o
Cell Travel Brochure (see final page; this rubric must be turned in when you turn in your project)
Reflection Questions
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.