Year 8 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 2
Foundation Worksheet
Learning Goals
Match each cell part to its job
Write the matching letter in the middle column. Each letter is used once.
| Cell part | Letter | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Nucleus | A. Controls what enters and leaves the cell. | |
| Mitochondria | B. Controls the cell’s activities. | |
| Cell membrane | C. Make proteins for the cell. | |
| Ribosomes | D. Release energy for the cell to use. |
Fill the gap
Choose the correct word from the word bank. Each word is used once at most. Two words will not be used.
What a part is like (its shape, size and what it is made of) is its . The job it does is its . A cell with features that suit one particular job is called a cell. A tissue is many cells working together, and an organ is made of tissues working together in one structure.
Sort it
Write each example in the correct box. Each box gets exactly two examples: one from a plant and one from an animal.
Cell
Tissue
Organ
True or false? Fix the false ones
Circle T or F. If a statement is false, correct it on the line.
1. An organ is just a very large tissue.
Correct it:
2. The heart contains muscle tissue, nerve tissue and connective tissue.
Correct it:
3. Any group of cells stuck together counts as a tissue.
Correct it:
4. The mitochondria control all of the cell’s activities.
Correct it:
5. Some cells are specialised, with features that suit one particular job.
Correct it:
Read the microscope results
A microscope lab
Mia’s class looked at four prepared slides under a microscope. For each slide they wrote down what they saw and counted how many different kinds of tissue it contained.
| Slide | What the class saw | Different tissue types |
|---|---|---|
| A. A thin peel of onion skin | one thin layer of similar, box-shaped cells | 1 |
| B. A slice through a lettuce leaf | a clear top layer, a row of tall green cells, loose rounded cells with air spaces, and veins | 4 |
| C. One cheek cell on its own | a single flat cell with a nucleus | none (one cell only) |
| D. A slice through the small intestine wall | a lining layer, layers of muscle, and connective tissue holding them together | 3 |
Source: sample class observations.
1. Which slide showed the most different tissue types?
2. Write cell, tissue or organ for each slide, A to D.
3. Mia says: “Slide A came from an onion bulb, and the bulb is a plant organ, so slide A must show an organ.” Use Table 1 to explain why slide A is a tissue, not an organ.
4. Your skin has an outer layer of epithelial tissue that forms a barrier, a layer of connective tissue underneath that makes it strong and stretchy, and nerve tissue that senses touch. Is the skin a cell, a tissue or an organ? Explain your answer using the words structure and function, and compare the skin with one skin cell.
Match each cell part to its job
Nucleus → B; Mitochondria → D; Cell membrane → A; Ribosomes → C.
Fill the gap
structure; function; specialised; similar; different. Not used: organelle, random.
Sort it
Cell: one nerve cell, one root hair cell. Tissue: epithelial tissue lining the mouth, palisade tissue in a leaf. Organ: the brain, a carrot (the root we eat).
True or false
1. False: an organ is made of different tissues working together; size is not what makes it an organ. 2. True. 3. False: a tissue is a group of similar cells working together on a shared job. 4. False: the nucleus controls the cell’s activities; mitochondria release energy. 5. True.
Read the microscope results
1. Slide B, the lettuce leaf (4 tissue types). [1 mark]
2. A: tissue. B: organ. C: cell. D: organ. [2 marks: all four correct = 2; two or three correct = 1]
3. Slide A has only one tissue type: one layer of similar cells. An organ must contain different tissues working together. The peel is one tissue taken from an organ, not the whole organ. [2 marks: 1 for using the data (one tissue type, similar cells), 1 for the organ definition]
Show What You Know
4. Marking guide: 1 for “organ”; 1 for naming at least two of the tissues with what each does; 1 for linking structure to function (different tissues, each suited to its job, work together so the skin can protect, stretch and sense); 1 for the comparison (one skin cell is a single living unit; the skin is made of many cells in several different tissues). Model answer: The skin is an organ. Its structure is several different tissues: epithelial tissue on the outside forms a barrier, connective tissue underneath makes it strong and stretchy, and nerve tissue senses touch. Together their functions let the skin protect the body and feel the world. One skin cell is only a single unit, so it cannot do all of these jobs. [4 marks]
Common error to watch for: deciding the level from where a sample came from or how big it is. Ask what it is made of: one cell, similar cells (tissue) or different tissues (organ).