Biology: Why Bigger is Not Necessarily Better

Objectives

• Students will determine the relationship between the surface area and the volume of a sphere.
• Students will use the understanding of surface area and volume to explain cellular membrane dynamics.
• Students will use a graph to interpret and analyze a biological principle.

Vocabulary

• radius
• circumference
• surface area
• volume
• cell membrane

About the Lesson

This lesson involves examining the relationship between surface area and volume.
As a result, students will:

• Analyze data numerically, graphically, and symbolically.
• Apply the relationships between the radius of a sphere and its circumference, surface area, and volume.
• Draw conclusions based on the simulation and their own data collection about the Surface Area to Volume relationship and why biological cells must remain small.