8th grade · Science · Unit 2 of 11
Cells & Life Processes
Organelles, photosynthesis and respiration
What your child practices
The cell theory, what organelles do in plant and animal cells, how photosynthesis and respiration are connected, osmosis, and how cells form tissues, organs and organ systems.
New York State Learning Standards learning standard: MS-LS1-2; MS-LS1-7 · the parts of a cell, and how photosynthesis and cellular respiration store and release energy
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Cell theory: all living things are made of cells, and cells come from other cells.
- Chloroplasts do photosynthesis; mitochondria do respiration. The products of one are the inputs of the other.
- Osmosis is water moving across a membrane. Cells form tissues, organs and systems.
Example: What are the products of photosynthesis? Plants use light, water and carbon dioxide. They make sugar and give off a gas. Answer: glucose and oxygen
Cells & Life Processes in New York
In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 2 of 11 in 8th grade Science, after Light & Radiation and before Motion, Forces & Newton’s Laws.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
What are the products of photosynthesis?
- carbon dioxide and water
- glucose (sugar) and oxygen
- carbon dioxide and oxygen
- water and energy
glucose (sugar) and oxygen
Hint: Glucose stores energy for the plant, and oxygen is released.
Question 2
How are photosynthesis and cellular respiration related?
- They are the same process.
- The products of one are the inputs of the other.
- They happen only at night.
- They happen only in animals.
The products of one are the inputs of the other.
Hint: Photosynthesis makes glucose and oxygen. Respiration uses glucose and oxygen.
Question 3
Which is the correct order from smallest to largest?
- organ → cell → tissue → organ system
- cell → tissue → organ → organ system
- organ system → organ → tissue → cell
- tissue → cell → organ system → organ
cell → tissue → organ → organ system
Hint: Cells form tissues, tissues form organs, and organs work together in organ systems.
Question 4
Which of these is part of the cell theory?
- All living things are made of cells.
- All cells are the same size.
- Cells only exist in animals.
- Cells appear from non-living matter.
All living things are made of cells.
Hint: The cell theory: living things are made of cells, cells are the basic unit of life, and all cells come from existing cells.
Question 5
Found only in plant cells, or in both plant and animal cells? Sort each cell part.
Sort into: 🌿 Plant cells only · 🐾 Plant and animal cells
- 🎯nucleus
- 🥣cytoplasm
- 🟢chloroplasts
- 💧large central vacuole
- 🧱cell wall
- 🔋mitochondria
- 🫧cell membrane
🌿 Plant cells only: chloroplasts, large central vacuole, cell wall · 🐾 Plant and animal cells: nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondria, cell membrane
Hint: Chloroplasts, the cell wall and the large central vacuole are only in plant cells. The nucleus, mitochondria, cell membrane, cytoplasm and ribosomes are in both.
Question 6
What is the basic unit of life?
- the organ
- the tissue
- the atom
- the cell
the cell
Hint: All living things are made of one or more cells.