11th grade

Symbiogenesis
Activities:

• Learn why phagocytosis was the key feature that made symbiogenesis possible in eukaryotes

• Explore a timeline from an ancestral eukaryote without mitochondria or chloroplasts to modern plants and animals

• Sort arguments for and against symbiogenesis into the correct categories

• Reflect on why some plastids have three or four membranes and why different chloroplasts resemble different cyanobacteria

• Compare the structures of mitochondria and chloroplasts, clicking on their shared features

• Investigate other proposed cases of symbiogenesis—such as flagella, peroxisomes, nuclei, or microsymbionts in Pelomyxa, Paulinella, and Mixotricha paradoxa—and work out which ideas are supported by evidence and which remain speculative

• Decide what in the eukaryotic cell is a true cellular structure—and what was once a separate organism

Parts of Flowering Plants
Activities:

• Sort plants into their main divisions (mosses, ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms, etc.)

• Study the structure of a flower and decode its floral formula

• Learn to distinguish racemose and cymose inflorescences and sort examples

• Compare simple and compound inflorescences and match them to real flowers

• Apply critical thinking to identify real-life examples of abstract inflorescence diagrams

• Explore fruit diversity—including aggregate, multiple, and false fruits—and sort them into groups

• Examine leaves and stems of nearby plants, identifying their key features like venation, margins, and arrangements