This month in 7th grade science our classrooms have been zooming in on life, literally. Students have been exploring the fascinating (and slightly scary) world of cells, single-celled organisms, and viruses as part of our biology unit.

We began by asking a big question: What makes something alive? From there, we dove into the microscopic world that exists around all of us. Using prepared slides, students examined a variety of organisms under the microscope, identifying important structures like the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell membrane. Things got even more interesting when we observed live samples of single-celled organisms. Watching tiny organisms like amoebas, parameciums, and euglenas move, respond, and carry out life processes in real time sparked both curiosity and some very honest questions. A few students cautiously asked, “Are all of these things sanitary?” with a few other brave souls making sure we were not handling the “brain eating” amoebas (we were not).

To make things even more personal, students prepared slides of their own cheek cells. By gently collecting cells and staining them, they were able to see their own cell structures under the microscope. It’s one thing to read about cells in a textbook, but it’s another to see your own cells up close!

Throughout the unit, students have not only learned about prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, organelles, and single-celled organisms, but they’ve also developed important scientific skills: observing carefully, asking questions, making connections between structure and function, and investigating a world that we can not always see.

It turns out that even the smallest living things can spark big curiosity.