C

CANDY FACTORY
by Jane Crooks and Pam Sheldon

The CELL as a

ow do you explain the functioning of something students cannot see with their own eyes? Often, the study of cells is the rst exposure that students have to the microscopic world. Even then, they can only make out a few of the details: cell wall, cell membrane, nucleus, sometimes a few chloroplasts. But when you begin to discuss the Golgi bodies, ribosomes, orheaven forbid the endoplasmic reticulum, students eyes glaze over as though you were speaking a strange language.

Jane Crooks was the sixth-grade science teacher at the Bancroft School in Worcester, Massachusetts, until retiring in June 2005. Pam Sheldon begins as the sixth-grade science teacher at the Bancroft School in September 2005. For further information, contact Jane Crooks at bjncrooks@comcast.net. As of September, Pam Sheldon can be contacted at psheldon@bancroftschool.org.

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How can we help students gain an understanding of cell organelles in a context that is meaningful to them? By comparing the cells structures and functions to something that all students can relate tofood! In this activity, we turn our classroom into a factory (cell) in which our students (organelles) perform different jobs to create (imaginary) peanut butter cups (protein products). The factory workers, equipped with props and costumes, work together to accomplish everything from the transportation of messages and supplies (endoplasmic reticulum) through the candy assembly (ribosomes), to packaging (Golgi bodies), and custodial work (lysosomes).

FIGURE 1

Materials list

Tape (two colors)to tape off factory on oor (electrical tape) Permanent markersto label factory parts Props: PresidentVIP prize ribbon Department managerstwo clipboards Transport teamtwo hats labeled Transport Assembly linetwo hard hats Packaging and distribution4 cm 4 cm aluminum foil squares, shoebox Generator/furnaceashlight Custodiansdustpan and broom, small trash can Security gateranger hat and sunglasses Product/materialspan of Legos of many colors, including 10 black and 10 tan Legos (the black and tan Legos are for the PBCs; the other colored Legos are trash)

Teaching the class

On the first day of the cell unit, students are informed that they are new employees of the PBC Company. No mention of cells is made. The goal of our factory is to successfully produce peanut butter cups (PBCs). Raw materials in the form of tan and black Legos student or sometimes several students a function in (i.e., peanut butter and chocolate) and tinfoil (wrapthe factory. To make it more fun and to help students pers) are provided. remember who plays what role, each part has its own We start with a brainstorming session. Students volcostume piece and prop(s). For example, we use hard unteer ideas on what parts are essential for a successful hats for the assembly line, a clipboard for the manager, factory (see Figure 2). Guided discussion ensures that and a ranger hat for the security guard (Figure 1). all essential parts are included. After brainstorming the Once students don their hats and grab their props, they parts of the factory, we tape off the floor plan for the take their places on the factory oor plan and act out the factory on the classroom floor, using blue tape for the process of production. factory walls, gate, and presidents office and red tape for the different areas in the factory (Figure 4). (To save Factory needs FIGURE 2 time, this can be done prior to class, but dont label them FACTORY PART CELL PART FUNCTION until after the brainstorming session.) Check with President Nucleus Issues all commands custodians regarding the best Department managers Nucleolus Deliver commands to assembly line way to mark the floor. A cardboard floor plan of your Endoplasmic Delivers messages and materials to different Transport team cell (drawn on a flattened reticulum parts of the factory refrigerator box) can be a Assembly line Ribosomes Assembles the product helpful reference tool, which can be mounted on the wall Packaging and Golgi bodies Package the product for storage or distribution distribution or displayed on the floor for students to view. Generator/furnace Mitochondria Provides energy for factory to run After listing the parts of the factory, we discuss how Custodians Lysosomes Clean up and recycle waste the PBCs will be made, makCell Security gate/fence Determines what goes in and out of the factory ing sure to use each part of the membrane factory at some point in the Storage Vacuole Stores raw materials and nished product process (Figure 3). Then we assign each
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FIGURE 3

How the PBCs are made

Discussion
Following PBC factory day, students are introduced to the actual structure of an animal cell. Names of organelles are matched to the corresponding factory jobs. Students readily understand the factory, thus the transition to the cell is smooth. Lively conversation about cells ensues, and a variety of questions are asked such as: What happens if the mitochondria stop working? What if the cell membrane lets in a harmful substance? How much can a vacuole hold? The factory oor plan serves as a visual reference point. Simply by moving to a particular area of the factory oor, students are often reminded of an organelle and its function. The visual trigger is very helpful as our cell discussions continue. Extending this factory analogy to model plant cells can be done with just a few extras. An additional security element, a fence placed outside the factory wall, could serve as the cell wall. A green tray (held by a chloroplast worker) could serve as the solar panel that helps provide fuel for the factory. The chloroplast worker could have batteries (i.e., food) to transport to the mitochondria worker to power the flashlight, which is shined on other organelles to provide them
FIGURE 5 The security guard inspects incoming raw materials.

1. The ingredients are delivered to security by an outside person. 2. Security checks the ingredients (Figure 5). 3. Transport takes ingredients to storage. 4. The president gives an order for PBCs. 5. President tells managers to begin assembly. 6. Managers inform assembly line to begin production of PBCs. 7. Transport moves some materials (Legos) from storage to assembly line. 8. Transport moves some materials (tinfoil) from storage to packaging. 9. Generator/furnace provides power to assembly line (ashlight is shined on assemblers). 10. Assembly line removes extraneous Legos, then attaches tan and brown Legos to make one PBC. The other Legos are left as trash near the assembly line (Figure 6). 11. Transport takes assembled PBCs to the packaging department. 12. Custodians sweep up extra Legos and place them in trash. 13. Packaging and distribution wraps PBCs in tinfoil and places them in cardboard box (Figure 7). Generator/ furnace provides power for packaging (ashlight shined on packers). 14. Packaging takes finished product to security for shipment. 15. Security inspects the package and allows it to leave the factory. The package is picked up by an outside person. FIGURE 4 Taped off oor plan of the factory (3 m x 5 m).

Assembly line Furnace Presidents office

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS

Packaging

Clean-up and recycling

Storage

Security gate

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FIGURE 6

Workers on the assembly line make peanut butter cups.

are given the go signal, they all enter the factory together. Chaos, of course, ensues as each student attempts to do all the steps needed to complete a PBC. Though PBCs are indeed made and wrapped, they are fewer and poorly made compared to the original production run. The advantages of specialization are easily seen. The distinction between factories without specialized departments (prokaryotic cells) and those with specialized departments (eukaryotic cells) is obvious to students. Further extensions of this activity are numerous: movement through the cell membrane (diffusion, active transport, endocytosis, and exocytosis), infection of the cell by viruses, and connections between cells.

Assessment
After this exercise, student knowledge of cell structure and function is assessed through oral presentation/reenactment and written explanations. For example, while still using the oor plan, a student is asked to stand in the furnace area of the factory. Then the student explains what occurred in the factory there and how that relates to a cell. By establishing this basic understanding of the cell, further investigation into the cellular processes of respiration and diffusion is possible. Respiration of yeast is observed using bromothymol blue as a CO 2 indicator. Diffusion is investigated at home in three experiments with energy. This can be used in later discussions of using tea, raw eggs (vinegar, salt water, and freshwater photosynthesis and cell respiration. treatments) and carrots (salt and freshwater treatAfter the study of animal cells has been completed, ments). Follow-up class discussions of these experia second factory production run is acted out. However, ments are animated and exciting. Our final experiment this time each student in the class must make one PBC, with diffusion is done in the lab where students seek from start to nish. The raw materials are randomly to answer the question, Do starch and glucose diffuse placed in the cytoplasm of the factory. When students through dialysis tubing? The lab activities and reports are the final evaluation tool for the cell unit. A packaging worker wraps each peanut FIGURE 7 Both the Atlas for Science Literacy and Benchbutter cup for storage or shipment. marks for Science stress the need for middle school students to understand the structure and functioning of cells. By comparing the cell to a factory, students can conceptualize the processes occurring inside. This knowledge can then be used to relate cellular needs and functions to those of an organism as a whole. The PBC factory is a powerful tool for opening students eyes to the complexity of cells. They are awed by the knowledge that something so small could be so intricate. They even begin to understand that they themselves are a marvelous collection of many cells cooperating to allow movement, sensation, growth, and even thinking. As one sixth grader said, I never knew cells were so amazing.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS

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