Year 7 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 8

Animal Cell Structure

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Label the four main parts of an animal cell.
Sort cell parts into plant only, animal only and both.
Use observations to decide whether a cell came from a plant or an animal.

Warm Up

Label the diagram

Name each labelled part. Choose from: nucleus, cell wall, mitochondrion, plasma membrane, cytoplasm. One of these is not found in an animal cell: leave it out.

Diagram of an irregular, blob-shaped animal cell with four parts labelled: A the thin outer layer, B the large round body near the centre, C the fluid filling the cell, D one of several small pink bodies with folds inside.

Label	Name of part	Label	Name of part
A		C
B		D

True or false? Fix the false ones

Circle T or F. If a statement is false, correct it on the line.

1. The nucleus contains the cell’s DNA.

Correct it:

2. Animal cells have a cell wall made of cellulose.

Correct it:

3. Animal cells never have any vacuoles.

Correct it:

4. Both plant cells and animal cells contain mitochondria.

Correct it:

5. All animal cells have the same regular, box-like shape.

Correct it:

Your Turn

Sort it

Write each item in the correct box. The boxes do not all hold the same number of items.

nucleus chloroplasts flexible, irregular shape plasma membrane cell wall mitochondria can squeeze through a narrow gap one large central vacuole cytoplasm rigid, box-like shape

Plant cells only

Animal cells only

Both

1. Which part of an animal cell holds its DNA? Why is this part called the control centre?

Recall 2 marks

Go Deeper

Read the data

Scenario: four mystery cells

A lab technician has four slides, but the labels have fallen off. Each slide holds cells from either a plant or an animal. Table 1 shows what she saw under the microscope.

Table 1. Observations of four mystery cells

Slide	Shape	Cell wall?	Chloroplasts?	Vacuole
W	Irregular; changes shape as it moves	No	No	A few small ones
X	Box-like	Yes	Yes	One large one
Y	Box-like	Yes	No	One large one
Z	Round and flexible	No	No	None seen

Source: made-up observations for this worksheet.

2. Decide whether each slide, W, X, Y and Z, shows plant or animal cells. Give one reason from Table 1 for each.

Apply 4 marks

3. Slide Y has no chloroplasts. Suggest which part of a plant it might have come from, and explain why it has none.

Analyse 2 marks

Show What You Know

4. Humans don’t turn green in the sun or make their own food from sunlight. Explain why. In your answer, name the cell part a human cell would need to do this, say why animal cells don’t have it, and describe how animal cells get their energy instead.

Analyse 5 marks

Answer Key (for teachers)

Label the diagram

A plasma membrane; B nucleus; C cytoplasm; D mitochondrion. Not used: cell wall.

True or false

1. True. 2. False: animal cells have no cell wall, only a plasma membrane. 3. False: animal cells can have small vacuoles, but never one large central vacuole. 4. True. 5. False: animal cells are usually irregular and flexible; the box shape belongs to plant cells.

Sort it

Plant cells only: chloroplasts; cell wall; one large central vacuole; rigid, box-like shape. Animal cells only: flexible, irregular shape; can squeeze through a narrow gap. Both: nucleus; plasma membrane; mitochondria; cytoplasm.

Question 1

The nucleus (1). It stores the DNA and decides what the cell makes (1). [2 marks]

Question 2

W animal: no cell wall, and it changes shape (1). X plant: cell wall and chloroplasts (1). Y plant: cell wall and one large vacuole (1). Z animal: no cell wall, flexible (1). [4 marks]

Question 3

A root (or onion skin, or the inside of a stem) (1). Those cells are in the dark, where chloroplasts would be useless, so the plant does not build them there (1). [2 marks]

Question 4

Marking guide: 1 chloroplasts needed; 1 they contain chlorophyll, which absorbs sunlight to make glucose; 1 animals eat other organisms instead, so do not need them; 1 mitochondria release energy from the glucose in food; 1 link: the cell has the parts the animal’s way of life needs. [5 marks]

Model answer: A human cell would need chloroplasts, which contain green chlorophyll. Animals eat other organisms, so they do not need to make food. The glucose from our food goes to our mitochondria, which release its energy. Our cells have the parts that suit the way we live.

Common error: “animal cells have no vacuoles”. They can have small vacuoles; what they never have is one large central vacuole.