Teaching ideas

Chapter 2 Cells
Syllabus sections covered: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

Teaching resources
40-minute Resources in Resources in Resources on
Syllabus Topic
periods Coursebook Workbook this CD-ROM
Using a microscope 2 Activity 2.1 Worksheet 2.1
Using a microscope The parts of a
microscope
Questions 2.1, 2.2
2.1 Cell structure and 3–6 Activity 2.2 Exercise 2.1 Worksheet 2.2
organisation Looking at animal Animal and plant Cell structure
cells cells
Worksheet 2.3
EOCQs 3, 4 Exercise 2.2 Magnification
Drawing cells calculations
Questions 2.3 to
and calculating
2.19
magnification
Activity 2.3
Exercise 2.3
Looking at plant
Organelles
cells
2.2 Cells and organisms 1 EOCQs 1, 2, 5

Topic 1 Using a microscope

Coursebook section 2.1

Teaching ideas
◆ Ascertain how familiar students are with using a microscope. If they are already competent
in this skill, you can move straight on to the next topic.
◆ Show students the microscopes that you have in your laboratory, and demonstrate how to
use one. You could use Worksheet 2.1 The parts of a microscope, to check they know the
names of the different parts.
◆ Ask students to do Activity 2.1 Using a microscope. Students could then make temporary
slides of drops of pond water, or moss leaves. If you have suitable equipment, you could
project images from a microscope onto a screen.

Common misunderstandings and misconceptions

◆ There are no common misunderstandings associated with this topic.

Homework ideas
◆ Worksheet 2.1 The parts of a microscope

© Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE® Biology Chapter 2: Teaching ideas 1

Topic 2 Cell structure and organisation
Coursebook section 2.1

Teaching ideas
◆ Ascertain how familiar students are with the structure of animal and plant cells. If they
already have good knowledge of them you may be able to move quickly through this topic.
◆ Project a large image of some cells onto a screen. Ask students what they are. Ask them to
try to identify the different parts. Ask them how big they think cells really are. Tell them
that a large cell may be about 0.1 mm long, and ask them to look at a ruler and imagine 10
cells side by side between two of the millimetre marks.
◆ Revise the concept of magnification. Coursebook questions 2.3 to 2.5 could be done as a
class discussion, or as group work.
◆ Students could make model cells, using a plastic bag (cell membrane), water or jelly
(cytoplasm) and a small rubber ball (nucleus). Put the whole thing inside a cardboard box
to represent the cell wall of a plant cell. Challenge students to suggest how they could add
chloroplasts and vacuole to the plant cell model.
◆ Discuss and explain the structure of animal cells. Students could carry out Activity 2.2
Looking at animal cells. They could exchange their drawings with one another, and mark
them using the self-assessment checklist for drawing (on the student CD-ROM). Discuss
any difficulties that students had with this activity, and how they solved them.
◆ Use a similar approach to deal with the structure of plant cells. You could perhaps begin
by drawing a rectangle on the board, and asking pupils to come to the front and complete
the diagram to show the structures in a plant cell. Activity 2.3 Looking at plant cells, could
be carried out. (You will need to demonstrate how to obtain and mount the piece of onion
epidermis.)
◆ Students should now have enough information to be able to construct their own
comparison of features found in animal cells and plant cells. This could possibly be done as
a class or group activity.
◆ Coursebook questions 2.6 to 2.19 can now be answered.

Common misunderstandings and misconceptions

◆ Students frequently confuse cell membrane and cell wall.

Homework ideas
◆ Worksheet 2.2 Cell structure
◆ Worksheet 2.3 Magnification calculations
◆ Workbook exercise 2.1 Animal and plant cells
◆ Workbook exercise 2.2 Drawing cells and calculating magnification
◆ Workbook exercise 2.3 Organelles

Topic 3 Cells and organisms

Coursebook section 2.2

© Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE® Biology Chapter 2: Teaching ideas 2

Teaching ideas
◆ Discuss the idea that there are many different kinds of cell in an organism such as an
animal or plant. (It is suggested that you wait to cover the detailed structure of the cells
listed in Section 2.2 in the syllabus until you reach the topics where the functions of these
specialised cells are covered.) Introduce the ideas of tissues, organs and organ systems.
Ensure that students know they need to learn these definitions.

Common misunderstandings and misconceptions

◆ Students with Spanish as their first language often seem to use the term ‘organism’ to mean
‘body’ (for example, ‘It is bad for your organism to eat too much fat’), which is incorrect.

Homework ideas
◆ End-of-chapter questions 1, 2 and 5

© Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE® Biology Chapter 2: Teaching ideas 3