Growth and Development of Cells
In GCSE Biology, students need to understand that for an organism to grow cells must divide, they need to be able to describe the process of mitosis as part of the cell cycle. This will enable them to understand the importance of cell differentiation as the production of specialised cells allows organisms to become more efficient. Students should be able to describe how cancer can result from changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division.
The role of meiotic division needs to be understood and students should be able to explain how this process results in the halving of the chromosome number to form gametes.
Often cell division is a concept which students struggle to grasp and it is just seen as a set of pictures that they need to memorise, without any real understanding of the processes involved.
A common misconception is that the cells are just "bigger" in fully developed organisms than the cells in developing organisms. Students do not always appreciate that developed organisms have more (not bigger) cells due to cell division. It is important to develop understanding of why cells need to divide and specialise. Students need to be clear on the challenges that would be posed if cells were large in terms of removal of waste products and obtaining required nutrients.
Using a range of teaching strategies that require students to actively get involved can promote much better understanding: providing groups of students with something as simple as pipe cleaners (for chromatids), string (for spindles) and a way of videoing (a mobile phone)--then asking them to produce their own 2 minutes video to demonstrate the process of cell division is a useful activity.
Whilst this list provides a source of information and ideas for experimental work, it is important to note that recommendations can date very quickly. Do NOT follow suggestions which conflict with current advice from CLEAPSS, SSERC or recent safety guides. eLibrary users are responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is consistent with current regulations related to Health and Safety and that they carry an appropriate risk assessment. Further information is provided in our Health and Safety guidance.
ABPI interactive website
This is an alternative page from the extensive set of interactive resources developed by ABPI. On this page students consider Cell division, mitosis and cancer. There is a useful mitosis animation which can be played as on a full screen.
There is some additional information on the next pages of this resource on tumour formation. This gives a context for the process of mitosis and the control of the cell cycle, which is useful for students to be able to describe cancer as a result of changes that lead to uncontrolled growth and division.
You tube videos on cell division
As there are so many easily accessible videos and animations on YouTube for mitosis and meiosis, students could work in pairs to find the "best" video or animation.
The teacher could set the criteria for what determines the "best". Alternatively students could be given a number of videos/animations to evaluate against set criteria. Rather than students using valuable time to search for videos, it would be worth providing some for them to evaluate, such as this video which covers mitosis
SAPS root tip practical
This is a protocol for the observation of mitosis in stained root tips from Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS). The resource has been developed for A level Biology, but would work well as a teacher led demonstration for GCSE Biology students, with the results displayed on a whiteboard.
Nuffield Foundation practicals on cell division
The Nuffield Foundation have collected and published a range of experiments to demonstrate biological concepts and processes, the two experiments suggested here provide the opportunity for students to observe the process of cell division by looking at dividing tissue. The two experiments are:
- Preparing an anther squash
- Investigating mitosis in alium root tip squash
For each experiment there are detailed teacher notes on lesson organisation, procedures and health and safety.
Meiosis - R2P
This resource provides a lesson plan showing how to use diagrams effectively to teach about meiosis based on educational research. The lesson outlines a sequence of activities and key questions to ask to help pupils understand meiosis. This includes studying a video and animation clip of meiosis in detail and then giving students diagrams of the stages of meiosis to place in the correct sequence. To compare meiosis with mitosis, pupils use a Venn diagram to show the features of each process that are common or unique. Once pupils have an understanding of the process of meiosis they can then be taught how this can be used to explain dominant characteristics. A research summary suggests that more time spent inspecting, drawing, or using meiosis diagrams enables pupils to develop a deep understanding of meiosis.
