Microscope CER Lab Examples

These are good student examples on how to write a CER, none are perfect so do not copy them. Use your own evidence and reasoning.

E:

From the lab done using microscopes, we are able to see the cell walls in the elodea and onion cells at 400x power.

Looking through a microscope, there is no cell walls in the Golgi apparatus.

In the elodea cells you were able to see chloroplasts, which were not present in the Golgi apparatus cells. (microscope observation)

The elodea has permanent vacuoles, however inside the Golgi apparatus none were present. (microscope observation)

R:

Plant cells are different from animal cells. You can see much more structure inside the onion and elodea cells, as they have cell walls, unlike the Golgi apparatus cells. The onion and elodea cells seemed much more like bricks lied down together to create a harder structure. The Golgi apparatus cells seemed much more clumped together and like blobs, with less of an outer rigid structure on the outside, showing the absence of a cell wall. Another organelle that the elodea had but the Golgi apparatus did not is chloroplast. This is because since the Golgi apparatus is an animal cell, it cannot use photosynthesis, but since the elodea can, the chloroplast can be seen. The last thing that could be seen inside the elodea cells but not in the Golgi apparatus was the permanent vacuole. Looking through the microscope, you could see the permanent vacuole helping give structure to the cell walls inside the elodea, but when you looked at the Golgi apparatus, you could not see any. This proves that plant and animal cells are different because plant cells have some different organelles compared to animal cells.

Claim: Plant and Animal cells are different from one another

Evidence: Plant cells and animal cells have different and unique structures. I got this evidence from the onion, elodea, and cheek cells we studied on microscopes. Plant cells also have chloroplast which animals cells do not. Plant cells can make their own food as well. I was able to gather this evidence from the Cell Structure notes.

Reasoning: Plant and animal cells differ in cell structure because while plant cells have cell walls, animal cells have a cell membrane. These two types of cells also differ because plant cells have chloroplast, meaning they are able to get sugars from the sun but animal cells are not able to do this. Plant cells are also able to create their own food using these sugars but since animals don't have chloroplast they aren't able to do this.

E: I observed a cell wall during the Microscope on both an onion cell and elodea cell. The structure of my cheek cell was different than the onion and elodea cell. There are different organelles in plant cells compared to animal cells. I gathered this evidence when looking under the microscope at my cheek cell, the elodea, and the onion cell, as well as seeing a diagram of a animal cell compared to one of a plant.

R: The organelles in the animal cells compared to the plant cell are different. When looked under a microscope, you can see organelles in plant cells that are omitted in animal cells, and vice versa. For example, on an onion and elodea cell, there is a cell wall. You can not find said cell wall on an animal cell. This alone proves they are different structurally. Plants are different from animals, for example, plants being autotrophs and animals being heterotrophs, so the different organelles give uses to one kind of cell that the other wouldn't find useful.

Claim: Plant and animal cells are different from one another.

Evidence:

In a diagram shown in class, plant cells have a chloroplast and animal cells don’t.
From looking in a microscope, plant cells have a cell wall which is not present in animal cells.
Based on my notes, plant cells perform photosynthesis while animal cells don’t.

Reasoning: When looking in a microscope, plant cells have a visible chloroplast. Upon examination of an animal cell, the chloroplast is not present. From my notes, I gathered that plants perform photosynthesis using their chloroplast. This provides them with food and energy to grow. Animals do not use photosynthesis to gain energy. Instead, they consume producers like plants. My observations on plant cells also tell me that they have a cell wall which makes it more structured than an animal cell. Therefore, plant and animal cells are different.