How Do Cells Function?

How do you explain the ways cells contribute to the function of living organisms?  In an effort to promote the basic understanding of the role of cells in body systems and how those systems work to support the life functions of the organism, students have been completing experiments and modeling the cell organelle functions. 

Students placed raw eggs into five different solutions to see if the solution would pass through the barrier of the shells to affect the circumference of the egg.  Both quantitative and qualitative data were taken over a five day period to record changes in the egg.  Students inferred that the process of osmosis allowed some of the substances to pass through the shell and increase the size of the egg.   Students included a control egg that was not placed into any solution.  This was offered as evidence that it was the solutions that were affecting the egg size.  Constant variables that should stay the same were also identified to make sure that the experiment was a fair test.

Students then moved to the outdoor classroom to make cell models out of materials found outside.  The cell membrane was represented with a plastic bag and the cytoplasm that the materials were placed into was made of corn syrup.  Students then explained which biotic factors they chose to represent the organelles and why they were chosen.