You’ve heard of Match.com, but have you ever heard of CellularMatch.com?
In Upper School Science Teachers Rachel Tourais’ and Dr. Christine Pickett’s AP Biology class, students are learning about different organelles in a very creative way. To investigate the structure and function of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organelles, they are using the theme of—you guessed it—speed dating. “Dr. Pickett and I just wanted a more fun and creative way for students to learn about organelles (cell substructures) and find connections between them since a big idea in AP Biology is Systems Interactions,” explains Ms. Tourais.
Students were prompted to choose an organelle to personify and then try to “cell it” to other lonely organelles. Here is the list of organelles they had to choose from:
| ● Nucleus
● Nucleolus ● Peroxisome ● Ribosomes ● Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum ● Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum ● Golgi Apparatus ● Cell Membrane ● Flagella |
● Chloroplast
● Cell Wall ● Cytoskeleton ● Mitochondrion ● Lysosome ● Cytosol ● Central Vacuole ● Centrosome ● Cilia ● Secretory vesicle |
The AP Biology students each created a dating profile for their organelle, highlighting its top facts while also adding a few “personal details.” They included:
- A “cellfie” – a picture of what the organelle looks like
- Their location within the cell (i.e., all cells, specific to plants, etc.)
- Their function of the organelle to keep the cell alive and healthy
- If they can compare the organelle to anything
- What organelles your organelle works well with
- A theme song
- A pickup line
- A trendable hashtag
- Bad habits someone should know about (i.e. what happens if your organelle is defective, missing, etc.)
With their orangelle profiles printed out and in hand, they were officially ready to let the dating begin!
First, to easily introduce themselves to the fellow organelle potentials, students made their own name tags. Then, they rotated seats to meet and greet each other while personifying the character of their organelle. Each organelle had 60-90 seconds to share with the other organelle before rotating. In this fun setup, they learned about each other’s jobs, they found a connection between themselves (in other words, they found out how their jobs related), and they discovered how they may work with each other to maintain homeostasis of a cell.
Once the speed dating rotations concluded, each student had a moment to reflect. They wrote down what they had in common with the other organelles, noted what cell facts were most interesting, and determined who they thought would be their best match. In the end, they explained a major takeaway from the lesson, stating why they think all organelles need to work together to generate the basic functions of a cell.
“I had the nucleus as my organelle and my best match was the mitochondria,” shared Lainie Zimmer ’26. “I liked the speed dating activity because I think it was a really engaging way for us to understand the functions and relationships between organelles. It also made collaboration a lot easier because of the format of the project. It helped me learn some new things about different organelles and what they do for the cell that might not have been highlighted in a class lecture!”
“I learned a lot from this lesson, most specifically about how important every organelle is in maintaining cell life and homeostasis,” reflected Cam Cozad ’27. “I chose the secretory vesicle, which is an organelle in all eukaryotic cells that dispenses waste products from the cell and nutrients from the cell to other parts of the body. My ‘best match’ was with the Golgi apparatus, as that organelle is very integral in the secretory vesicle’s function.”
Saahithi Inkollu ’27, who acted as the ribosome organelle, learned a lot too and liked this lesson’s format. “I thought it was really cool to talk to each organelle briefly, especially in a style as if we are the organelles ourselves,” she said. “It was also pretty fun to try and ‘show off’ ourselves in an effort to try and find organelles that best matched ours. I found that the chloroplast organelle best matched mine because the chloroplast organelle has its own genes, meaning that as the ribosome, my job is to synthesize proteins inside of it.”
Overall, the lesson in the speed dating style was a perfect match for students to connect with the material. Cam appreciated the speed-dating format. “It was an easy and fast way to learn new and deep things about organelles while also being able to ask follow-up questions. Additionally, I was incredibly surprised at the level of understanding displayed by everyone in my class about their own organelles. It was truly motivating,” he said.
Saahithi added, “I learned about how all the organelles work together in a cell to keep it alive and thriving. Every single organelle is crucial to the function of a cell, and they build life in our modern world. It was surprising to see how essential each organelle is to the cell and how if just one was missing, the whole system would fail.”
Thank you, Ms. Tourais and Dr. Pickett, for this fun lesson! What a lovely and clever way to learn about organelles!