Animal cell diagram

What this diagram shows

Cells are the building blocks of every living thing, and the human body is made of trillions of them. This diagram shows a typical animal cell with the four parts students are expected to know first. In Explore, tapping a part shows its name and one fact. Labels names every part on the picture. Quiz me asks the student to find each part and gives a score at the end of the round.

• Cell membrane: the thin outer layer that controls what enters and leaves the cell.
• Cytoplasm: the jelly-like fluid where many of the cell's chemical reactions take place.
• Nucleus: contains DNA, the genetic instructions that control the cell's activities.
• Mitochondria: where aerobic respiration releases energy from glucose.

Common misconceptions

The phrase "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" is popular, but it can lead students to say mitochondria make energy. Energy cannot be made. Mitochondria release energy stored in glucose, using oxygen, in a process called respiration. Also, mitochondria is plural; one is a mitochondrion, and most cells contain many.

Other mix-ups worth tackling: students often think respiration means breathing (breathing moves air; respiration is a chemical reaction in every cell), that the nucleus is the same as the nucleus of an atom (same word, different thing), or that all animal cells look like this round diagram. Real cells come in many shapes, such as long nerve cells and disc-shaped red blood cells, which have no nucleus at all.

Where this fits in school

• England, Key Stage 3 (Years 7 to 9): pupils learn the functions of the cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria and, in plant cells, the cell wall, vacuole and chloroplasts, and compare plant and animal cells.
• England, GCSE (Years 10 and 11): students add ribosomes and look at specialized cells and cell division.
• US, grades 6 to 8: NGSS MS-LS1-1 asks for evidence that living things are made of cells, and MS-LS1-2 asks students to model how parts of a cell contribute to its function.
• US, high school biology: students revisit cell structure with more organelles and link it to proteins and DNA.

A 10-minute animal cell activity

• Ask: "What do you think is inside one of your cells?" Note any parts the student already knows.
• In Explore, tap each part. After each, ask the student to compare it to a part of a school or a city, such as the nucleus as the principal's office.
• Discuss where the comparison breaks down. Every analogy has limits, and spotting them shows real understanding.
• Play one Quiz me round with Labels off.
• Open the plant cell diagram on this site and ask which parts are the same and which are new.

If a microscope is available, cheek cells stained with a little iodine or methylene blue show the membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus clearly. Mitochondria are too small to see with a school light microscope, which is a good discussion point in itself.

Learning more

Science is part of Eurekami's skill map, with lessons that draw science diagrams live and narrate them in English or Spanish. For older students, Exam Prep includes GCSE Combined Science practice papers.