Resources: Why are Cells Small? Surface Area to Volume Ratio

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Why are Cells Small? was developed as part of an effort by the Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges group to provide materials that incorporate mathematical concepts into biology courses. The activity was designed for a non-majors biology course, and maps to Chapter 4 of the OpenStax Biology 2e textbook. This activity could also be used in a mathematics course as a biologically relevant example. After completing this module students should be able to: - Explain the relationship of surface area to volume - Describe the importance of a large surface area to volume ratio in the context of a living cell - Calculate surface area of cubes and spheres - Calculate volume of cubes and spheres - Express two values as a ratio - Enter data into a table - Interpret Tables - Create a graph - Describe the axis labels on graphs - Interpret graphs This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1919613. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Christianne Baucom Nieuwsma, Jennifer Glee Buntz, John Howard Starnes, Sondra Marie Lore, Vedham Karpakakunjaram

Resources: Sizes, Scales and Specialization: Using Relative Proportions and Scientific Notation to Highlight the Diversity of Cell Types

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Size, Scales, and Specialization was developed as part of an effort by the Quantitative Biology at Community Colleges group to provide materials that incorporate mathematical concepts into biology courses. The activity uses published estimates of cell type numbers in the human body along with size, density and weight as a lens to have students calculate ratios, explore exponents, and better understand how the various cell types contribute to an average human's total weight and size. The activity is applicable for majors and non-majors biology courses, and maps to Chapter 4 of the OpenStax Biology 2e textbook. This activity could also be used in a mathematics course as a biologically relevant example. The activity contains a pre-assessment to gauge student understanding of the material and provides an opportunity for students to predict the number of various cell types, as well as the mass of various cell types, in the human body. This prediction activity is followed with a guided approach to calculating these values. After guiding the students in this activity, students will then have a chance to practice the activity on a new set of cell data provided. After completing this module students should be able to: - Compare and contrast the structure and function of different cell types. -- List the largest and the smallest cells in the body based on number. -- List the largest and the smallest cells in the body based on mass. - Describe the advantages of specialization in eukaryotic cells. -- Give examples of how specialization in cell types affects cell size (volume) and shape. - Perform measurements and conversions using the metric system. -- Measure the scale of cell size variation in the human body -- Calculate the relative proportions of cell types in the human body by mass and frequency

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Data Set, Homework/Assignment

Authors: Heather Seitz, Jillian Marie Miller, Joseph Esquibel