Year 12 Cell structures and their functions

The inner life of the cell - A BioVisions animation

HOW BIG IS A CELL?

• Cell size and scale  as compared to a rice grain. Quick flash animation.
• Compare sizes of cells - different types of cells are different sizes. Watch the animation.

DIAGRAMS ETC. FOR LEARNING THE FUNCTIONS OF ORGANELLES

• CellCraft! - Takes 2-3 hours, so not great for right before exams, but as far as I can tell, the people who played it learned quite a bit from it. During the game, there are opportunities for you to actually stop playing and read and learn more about the organelles involved. (If this link doesn't work, then google CellCraft Game and find one that does.)
• Inside a cell - 3D animal and plant cell structure. Click on parts to learn functions.
• Eukaryotic cell tour - A narrated collection of tutorials on the structures and functions in a cell. Click on the parts to learn more.
• Plant cell structure - Nice colourful 3D diagram (the likes of which you could never draw and probably won’t see in an exam) and descriptions of what each organelle does.
• Animal cell structure - Nice colourful 3D diagram (the likes of which you could never draw and probably won’t see in an exam) and descriptions of what each organelle does.
• Practice exercises - Images to click on and match to terms and statements describing structure and function of plant and animal cells.
• The Cell - Includes animations of what ribosomes, Golgi bodies, mitochondria etc do. Golgi is good; others a bit too complex.
• S-cool Organelles Including ER, Golgi, mitochondria and chloroplasts
• ER and golgi body - Animation of what the Golgi does 
• Lysosomes - A narrated animation that shows the formation and action of lysosomes brilliantly
• Mix’n’match: Animal cell  - Takes 2 minutes. 
• Mix’n’match: Plant cell - Takes 2 minutes. 
• Evolution of cell organelles - Extra for experts. How did cells with organelles evolve? Some ideas

CELL MEMBRANES

Cell membrane rap - Mr W summarises cell membrane structure and function in his own unique way.
There's a link to an interactive quiz that will come up as the credits are rolling - give it a go. 

• S-cool The cell membrane Brief coverage of structure and function. 
• Cell membrane - Explains the phospholipid bilayer structure in depth: what phospholipids are, what cholesterol does for a membrane, how proteins embed in the membrane etc. Shows the molecular structure of relevant molecules and explains how they associate with each other and water. Pretty complex.

TRANSPORT OF SUBSTANCES INTO AND OUT OF CELLS

 

Crash Course Biology: Membranes and transport

Covers most of the processes and has some analogies and animations. Thanks Hank!

• Cellular transport - Pretty decent overview. Covers cell membrane structure, passive transport (diffusion, osmosis) and active transport.
• Membrane transport - Pretty decent overview. Covers cell membrane structure, passive transport (diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis) and active transport (ion pumps, cotransport, endocytosis) 
• Passive transport - Simple and facilitated diffusion, animated and narrated if you want.
• BBC Biology:Investigating cells: Cells and diffusion - Cell structure, diffusion and osmosis. 
• S-cool Movement - Diffusion, osmosis, facilitated diffusion, active transport.  
• How diffusion works - Narrated animation and a short quiz 
• How facilitated diffusion works - Narrated animation and a short quiz.
• How osmosis works - Narrated animation and a short quiz.
• Osmosis in eggs - The Sci Guys explain something you could do at home to observe osmosis in eggs. Photograph or film your results! Two aspects of the science involved are explained; obviously, the part about osmosis is what's important for you. 
• Osmosis rap - Mr W aces it again! Remember to try the interactive quiz linked to in the credits. 
• Active transport - Detailed examples used to explain principles of primary (Na+ / K+ pump) and secondary active transport at a membrane level
• Vesicle budding and fusing - Animation (narrated or step-through) and text.
• Endocytosis and exocytosis - A flash animation.
• Phagocytosis- Detailed animation.
• Protein secretion - An animation of secretion starting with protein manufacture in the rough ER through modification in the Golgi body and eventually secretion by exocytosis. The narration is overly complex, but the animation is worth a look to show what a series of diagrams in a book can never show.
• Transport videos - Quite a few videos (of real cells!) and explanations of transport processes, especially related to osmosis, in both plant and animal cells. 

ENZYMES

Mr W's enzymes song - Something something something something something something something enzymes...covers structure, function, and how enzymes are affected by pH and temperature.
Remember to take the interactive quiz at the end!

• BBC Biology:Investigating cells: Enzymes and aerobic respiration - The function of enzymes, factors affecting enzymes, and aerobic respiration. Sample questions and answers with hints too!
• How enzymes work - Narrated animation and a quiz. 
• How factors affect the function of enzymes - A video that covers the explanation of how temperature, pH and substrate concentration affect enzyme function, including how to interpret and explain graphs of enzyme activity. 'See more' to see the narration from the video in the description.
  Note: the "rate of the reaction" increases because the activity of the enzyme itself is increasing. 
• Heat changes protein structure: denaturation of an egg - Animation and text
• S-cool Enzymes - Revise then test yourself on how enzymes work and some of the factors that affect their function.
• Catalysis - See animations comparing a reaction with and without and enzyme, and also with inhibitors present.
• Enzymes and their uses - Text resource with a few diagrams and animations about enzymes. Not very interactive! Includes: Enzymes; Types of enzymes; Enzymes in digestion; The properties of enzymes; How do enzymes work?; Effect of temperature and pH; Uses of enzymes; Immobilised enzymes

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

•  S-cool Photosynthesis - Study some notes with simple colour diagrams then try some test questions.

RESPIRATION

• S-cool Respiration - Study some notes with simple colour diagrams then try some test questions. Goes a bit off topic when not focussing on cells though.
• BBC Biology: Investigating cells: Enzymes and aerobic respiration - The function of enzymes, factors affecting enzymes, and aerobic respiration. Sample questions and answers with hints too!

THE STRUCTURE OF DNA AND DNA REPLICATION

Crash Course Biology: DNA structure & Replication
Don't worry about the detail. Focus on how each original strand acts as a template for their complementary strands to be made, and recognise that several enzymes are involved in carrying it out (and therefore any factors affecting enzymes could affect the rate of DNA replication!).

• DNA, Fantastic! - Mr W's DNA rap. He covers the structure, using lots of suitable terminology, and one example of a point mutation that's useful for the gene expression topic later on.
• Genes and Inheritance  - A fairly comprehensive review of Year 11 Genetics. Mouseover specific terms to be reminded of definitions. Each page has a quiz at the end to check your understanding. Some interesting applications of inheritance with respect to genetically inherited diseases. A complete quiz at the end.
• Tour of the basics of genetics - Animations to remind you of the structure of DNA and how it works.
• Structure of DNA  - A narrated video to watch. Nice because it shows how the actual atoms in the molecule are arranged. Very complex in the vocab, so at best, just watch the pictures.
• DNA workshop: DNA replication (& protein synthesis) - Interactive animations to review the processes of DNA replication (and protein synthesis). Get involved; it doesn’t take long!
• DNA replication – This animation includes more of the nitty gritty of replication, showing the enzymes that are involved. e.g. helicase, polymerases, ligase.

HOW SCIENTISTS MADE THEIR DISCOVERIES ABOUT DNA

This isn't examined at any level, but it's still interesting!

DNA - The secret of life  How the structure of DNA was discovered, including the people involved,
and some of the controversies. Part 1 of a 5-part PBS documentary. 

• Meselson-Stahl experiment: DNA replication - How scientists found out that DNA replicates by unzipping and copying complementary strands.
• Decoding DNA - The science involved in decoding DNA – finding the sequence. More for 13BIO, but interesting nevertheless.
• DNA from the beginning - A huuuuuuge resource including text, animations, and a lot of the science behind the knowledge. Use the menus down the side to navigate through some of the main points of the genetics topic. Of the three main sections, Classical Genetics and Molecules of Genetics are the most relevant.

MITOSIS
Don't worry about the names of stages, just watch what the chromosomes are doing.

Here's a clip of mitosis in 3 dimensions. The narration is complex but the animation is good.

Cell Cycle and Mitosis [3D Animation]

This one does a good job of putting mitosis in the context of a whole cell cycle, and also gives some factors which affect whether a cell completes mitosis or not. 

Mitosis - ndsuvirtualcell

The quality of videos available on the net has improved so mCell Cycle and Mitosisuch lately. I'm  not sure which one is best to post!

Crash Course Biology: Mitosis
Again, the names of the stages aren't required, but watch the chromosomes, and recognise when, in a cell's life, mitosis occurs, and that it will involve LOTS of enzymes and energy (so will be affected by factors affecting enzymes or respiration).

• Mitosis -Narrated and/or step-through animation of mitosis with a quiz at the end.
• Cells Alive - mitosis - Compare a diagram of mitosis with photographs of an actual real cell dividing.
• Mitosis and the cell cycle - Narrated animation and a quiz. Animation is nice but the text level is high.
• Mitosis and cytokinesis - Narrated animation and a quiz. Animation is nice but the text level is high.
• BBC Science: Cell division - Cell division by mitosis, including stages, and then a test.
• Mitosis: Interactive Java Tutorial - Very detailed description of mitosis, and an animation to boot. Not particularly interactive.
• Genetics Review: Mitosis - Brief diagram and text reminder of the names of the stages of mitosis for Year 13.
• Mitosis and cytokinesis - Animation of these processes in a plant cell. High level text. 
• Cell division and cancer - Extra for experts. A somewhat long but good review of cell structure including specialisation, as well as cell division by mitosis (with an animation; no stage names). Includes what happens when cell division goes out of control i.e. cancer. Self-check tests throughout. 

The science of decay

AFTERLIFE: THE STRANGE SCIENCE OF DECAY
"Decay: it happens to everything and everyone..."

In this documentary, a biologist sets up a glass box within Edinburgh Zoo and puts lots of stuff in it to see it decay: cooked rice, chilli, cups of tea, a fish, cheese, a fruit bowl, a vegetable box, a raw chicken, sausages, hamburgers, a whole pig on a spit, a compost heap, a wood pile...even a dead rat!

The process of decomposition is observed over a period of 8 weeks using time-lapse cameras and specialist photography to capture the extraordinary way in which moulds, microbes and insects are able to break down everyday things and allow new life to emerge from old.

Highlights:

• Bacteria decomposing a chicken, including how they sense and communicate with each other, and coordinate. (2 minutes)
• How the US Army stops its food going off - extreme preservation! (6 minutes)
• Why we have coal  - plants evolved wood strengthened with lignin well before fungi evolved the ability to digest it and break it down. This meant dead trees ened up lying all over the place, not decaying, and instead vulnerable to burning (especially with all the extra atmospheric oxygen from photosynthesis outpacing respiration). Masses of undecomposed / burnt wood helped to form great deposits of coal. The high oxygen levels also assisted the evolution of large insects, which otherwise have too inefficient gas exchange systems to be able to survive today, and dinosaurs! The end of the age of dinosaurs coincided with a firestorm that probably burned about 25% of the world's forests, leaving less food, less oxygen in the air, and a cooler earth thanks to ash clouds.

Too many highlights! Just watch the whole thing!

Year 11 Mammals as consumers links

Food and what's in it: focus on carbohydrates, proteins and fats

• Biological compounds activity - Interactive animation that starts with an an overview of what is in the organic molecules of proteins, carbohydrates and fats (and then goes onto carbon, oxygen and nitrogen cycles, which is useful for the Micro-organisms topic).
• Body needs - Are you what you eat? A flash mouse-over animation to investigate your nutritional requirements. Includes details of what you get if you don’t get enough of particular nutrients. Focus on carbohydrates, proteins, lipids
• Diet and Digestion - Includes what’s in food, a nice diagram of the digestive system, an animation of peristalsis and a wee bit about physical and chemical digestion. Has an easy and a hard Test Bite at the end.

Organs in the digestive system (mostly in order of usefulness)

• Digestion - This interactive e-source about food groups and the digestive system allows you to complete summary sheets to check your progress as you go, and there’s a quiz at the end too. Really quite a good overview, so highly recommended.  
• Organs of digestion - animation with good step-by-step descriptions of wha's going on in each organ as food moves through. Was one that went with an activity in your booklet.   
• The digestive system - Short animated movie with narration.
• The real deal on the digestive system - An informative and easy to understand article that leads you through the organs involved. Updated June 2010. Has an animated diagram for a very basic review of structures and functions on page 1. 
• Food processing - Interactive showing basic processes in a highly no-scientific manner. Good reminder about what is digested where, and how, and by what, though. Pretty basic!
• Diet, drugs and health - Very basic overview, maybe even too basic? This Revision Bite covers: Nutrients; Some effects of a poor diet; Digestive system; Digestion and enzymes; Absorption and egestion (plus more).
• The Digestion and Absorption of Fats - Step-through or narrated animation. Warning: Pretty complex and thorough, but shows absorption nicely, and includes villi. Shows roles of bile and lipase acting on fat molecules too. 

Enzymes and digestion

• Enzymes and their uses - Text resource with a few diagrams and animations about enzymes. (Not very interactive!) Includes: Enzymes; Types of enzymes; Enzymes in digestion; The properties of enzymes; How do enzymes work?; Effect of temperature and pH; Uses of enzymes; Immobilised enzymes
• Enzymes - Enzymes in general and their role in digestion too. Test Bites for both.

After food has been absorbed

• Circulation - about the heart and blood vessels, briefly. Not specific to transporting nutrients. 
• Life Processes – Respiration and the role of lungs - A quick text overview of respiration and how the lungs are involved. See pages 3, 4 and 5 only. (The rest reviews muscles and bones). Bit much detail on lungs, but a couple of nice animations showing the exchange of CO₂ and O₂.
• Insulin and Glucose Regulation - How hormones from the pancreas regulate the level of sugars in the blood after and between meals. An 'Extra for experts', definitely. 

Differences between mammals

• A Cow's Digestive System - Explanation of rumination in the first chambers of a cow’s stomach, with animation and narration (as embedded above) 1:35
• Skull science - How the skull shape and teeth relate to the diet of various mammals. A brochure-type resource.