Biology Lesson

Divide & Conquer: Cell Cycle, Mitosis, and Cancer

Shared by A STEM Educator

9th Grade5E Model50 min

Learning Objective

Students will sequence the stages of mitosis in somatic cells, explain the role of G1, G2, and M checkpoints in regulating the cell cycle, and connect checkpoint failure to uncontrolled cell division and tumor formation in cancer.

Lesson Overview

Students explore the regulated stages of the cell cycle and mitotic division, connect checkpoint failures to uncontrolled tumor growth, and analyze how cancer emerges when molecular brakes fail. Lesson moves from a provocative cancer-growth hook through image-based stage sequencing to checkpoint analysis and a chromatin-vs-chromosome exit slip.

Materials

Paper
Pencils
Whiteboard and markers

Scaffolded Task Progression

1Task 1

A single skin cell in your body divides roughly once every 24 hours. A cancer cell in a tumor can divide every 8 hours without stopping. If both start as 1 cell, how many cells does each produce after 24 hours? What does this tell you about what cancer has lost?

2Task 2

Look at the 5 whiteboard cell sketches your teacher drew. Without using your textbook, arrange them in the order you believe they occur during cell division. Label each sketch with a descriptive phrase (e.g., 'chromosomes line up'). Then place each stage on the cell cycle clock your teacher drew, estimating which arc (Interphase vs. Mitotic Phase) is longer.

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