Cells Alive
Last week, we eighth graders took the role of real biologists. This time our task was to explore a real cell. We were required to identify the similarity between life systems organization and the fundamental unit of life, the cell, through some activities.
Being outsiders, we were prevented to cross the “plasma membrane” (fence of the school). However, after the cell controller, “the nucleus” (school director) gave the order we were able to enter into the cell. On the first sight, everything looked weird. We imagined ourselves in a huge factory: in this factory the food was produced in the “Endoplasmic reticulum” and “ribosomes” (teachers’ room), packed in the “Golgi apparatus” (photocopy and packaging room), and then distributed to their targets via “the vesicles”. On the other side of the cell there was a loud noise coming from the “mitochondria” (Engines room). Escaping from the noise, we decided to have a walk in the “cytoplasm” (playground. After a long walk, we felt hungry. So we decided to buy a snack from a nearby market called "vacuole". Afterward, we threw our leftovers into the "lysosome", a garbage can. Suddenly, we realized that it was time to go back home. We left the cell after taking the permission from the nucleus.
Discovering a real cell on that day was really a marvelous adventure.

 
Written by the 4 junior scientists from grade 8:
Gina al Kaderi, Nay Khalil, Omar Yehya, and Samar Al Saad
Supervised by: Teacher Widad Al Barraj