Education Technology


Biology: Why Bigger is Not Necessarily Better

by Texas Instruments - Simulation Lesson

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.