Lesson 3 of 9

Plant cells

Goal: Compare plant and animal cells.

Puzzles for this lesson

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Plant cells have the same four parts as animal cells, plus three extras.

Brick-shaped onion cells stained amber
Under a microscope. What onion cells look like, stained with iodine. The cell walls give them neat brick shapes. An onion bulb grows underground, away from the light, so these cells have no chloroplasts.

Watch out: the cell wall and the cell membrane are different. Plant cells have both.

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Key words in this lesson

Cell Smallest building block of a living thing

Cell membrane Controls what goes in and out

Cell wall Tough layer that supports a plant cell

Chloroplasts Absorb light for photosynthesis

Stain Dye that makes cell parts show up

For teachers: AQA 3.8.2 · Pearson Edexcel 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 · Cambridge 7Bs.02, 7Bs.04