Identification+of+Mitochondria+in+Plant+Cells



Participant Feedback (put your name - comment) Name - Comment

Kasi- Not sure if the kids have enought skills to cut a then slice to see the organelles.

Ken- The celery didn't seem to work any better than onion or elodea. Not much success. The small dots may have been mitochondria, chloroplasts, air bubbles or some other particles. No nuclei were visible either.

George - This lab was okay. It was difficult to see the mitochondria and the microscope technique would be difficult to achieve for a novice. It may work with an advanced group.

Emily- This lab is very difficult to complete. The celery needs to be cut extremely thin and is very difficult to do. Also microscope ability is a necessity and many high school students lack the level of ability required to tackle this lab.

Carrie - It was difficult to cut the celery into thin enough slices and the cutting process would require students to use razor blades. In addition, the mitochondria were very hard to see.

Christine- I thought this lab would go very well while examining other organelles in cells as well rather than presenting on its own. As the mitochondria were a little difficult to see, it might be neat to present this alongside looking at epithelial cheek cells and plant cells where the students can see the nuclei of other cells, chloroplasts, and other organelles typically seen in these cells with light microscopes.

Deb- this was like the mitosis lab Kasi and I did last year. It sounded great, but was too hard to do and only offered subpar results. And the kids would probably cut themselves, so we'd have the blood issue, too. I always hope to see mitochondria, but I guess prepared slides and videos are the only way.

Heather - Fun to look at, but I am not certain the mitochondria were visible given our sample. We sliced several times and the samples were thin. I don't think that students would be able to consistently get good results.

John - Difficult lab in slicing the celery thin enough to get clear results. The mitochondria were not as obvious as I expected them to be.