Cell Cycle Wheel Instructions

Materials:Construction paperScissors

GluePensRuler

  1. Choose two different colors of construction paper to make your wheel.
  2. On one of the pieces, cut out the largest size circle you can. This will be the outside circle.
  3. Using the second piece of construction paper, cut out a smaller circle. Do not make this second circle too small so that dividing it into “pie pieces” makes writing in it too difficult. Using two different sizes of paper plates as templates works well. Make sure that there is at least a 2 cm margin between the inner and outer circles edges.
  4. Do steps 1-3 first, however, there is no need to tell students yet what they will be doing with them. Next, as you have students assemble these, you will be teaching the cell cycle.
  5. Tell students that cells go through a life cycle, just like humans do. Since we’re made of cells, which they already know, this should make sense.
  6. Tell students to pick up the smaller of their two circles. Have students divide the circle into four pie-pieces. Have them fold the circle in half, then in half again, to divide the circle evenly. Then have them draw lines on the folds. In other words, divide the circle into four quarters.
  7. Next have students glue their smaller circle in the middle of the larger circle.
  8. Tell students that cells go through growing cycles. During these phases, cells assemble the materials in them to get ready to duplicate, grow, and divide. Explain that the dividing part is only a very small part of the cell’s entire life, but it is certainly the most entertaining one. Have students look at the four smaller sections inside their little circle. Explain that only approx. a quarter of a cell’s life is spent dividing.
  9. Have students pick one section of their smaller circle and extend the lines out into the larger circle. Explain that this dividing time, that is only approximately a quarter of a cell’s “life” is called “MITOSIS”. Have students write “MITOSIS” around the edge of the larger, outside circle portion of that one section they marked off.
  10. Tell student’s that the other three-quarters of a cell’s life is spent just getting ready to divide! This other portion of a cell’s life is called “INTERPHASE”. Have students write “INTERPHASE” in the remaining space on the outside circle, around portion of the three remaining sections.
  11. Next tell students that these two portions, MITOSIS & INTERPHASE of a cell’s life, or CELL CYCLE, have even smaller sections/phases named within them.
  12. For example, INTERPHASE is composed of three smaller parts. Have students pick the section of the smaller circle farthest to the left and have them write “G1” in that space. Under “G1”, have them write, “getting ready to copy DNA”.
  13. Next tell students that when a cell duplicates, it has to give the new cell a copy of the DNA for the new nucleus. Have students in the next section, going clockwise after G1, write “S Phase”. Under “S Phase”, have students write, “cell is copying and synthesizing DNA”. Point out that the “S” in “S Phase” stands for synthesizing.
  14. Next tell students that now the cell has two copies of its DNA, and now it is ready to replicate itself. Before it can do this, it has to go through another growing phase to getthe materials ready in the cell to split. Have students, in the next section, going clockwise, write “G2”. Under “G2”, have them write “getting ready to split.”
  15. Tell students that the final stage is the process called MITOSIS.
  16. MITOSIS is just one section of the cell cycle, but a very important one. MITOSIS is made of four different phases called PROPHASE, METAPHASE, ANAPHASE, and TELOPHASE. Have students divide this section of their inner circle into four smaller sections. Going clockwise, have them write in the four sections, “Prophase”, “Metaphase”, “Anaphase”, and “Telophase”.
  17. Review with the students that we collectively call “G1”, “S Phase”, and “G2” another word, just to make it easier so we don’t have to say all three. This is called “INTERPHASE”.
  18. Remind students that the four phases, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telophase are all together called MITOSIS.
  19. Tell students that tomorrow they will learn about the specifics of each phase of mitosis. The purpose of today’s activity was to let them see the big picture of the Cell Cycle and how mitosis fits into it.