Overview and Background

The function of organelles within the cell has often been compared to the jobs that certain individuals hold or features that can be found within a city. The nucleus represents the mayor, the endoplasmic reticulum represents the highways, and so on.

Lesson Plan and Activity

Discuss this analogy with students, and together, come up with a cohesive list of organelles and their city counterparts.

Use a microscope to examine the shape of the organelles (or look at similar images online). Use TinkerCAD to design the basic structure of each organelle. But, put a comic twist on the organelles, and make them cartoon-like, reflecting the role they play in the city.

Materials Needed

Access to computers with Autodesk Tinkercad or preferred CAD modeling program.
MakerBot Sketch 3D Printer(s) to print designs

Rubric and Assessment

Learning Standards

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
Utilize 3D printed models as a visual representation to enhance students' understanding of cell organelles.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.
*Discuss the analogy between cell organelles and a city, students can cite specific evidence from texts (such as textbooks or articles) to support their analysis and discussions.

Next Generation Science Standards

ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution: Criteria may need to be broken down into simpler ones that can be approached systematically.
Encourage students to consider the design criteria for 3D printed organelle models, including accuracy, scale, and clarity of representation.

LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms: In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems.
students develop a foundational understanding of how organisms vary and share traits. This can foster discussions about how different cells might have specialized organelles, which contribute to the overall function of the organism.

References

This lesson plan was developed with educator, Beverly Owens and MakerBot Education.

Build a Cell City