The fundamental characteristics of, and differences between, various cell types have been known for a long time and are discussed in almost all biology textbooks. While all cells share certain structural parts, cells of different evolutionary origins have components that set them apart from each other. Build-A-Cell helps students who are blind or visually impaired understand these concepts by providing a full color, tactile, and interactive representation of the internal and external structures of bacterial, animal and plant cells.

Includes:

• A three-ring binder with:
• Two copies of a vacuum-formed key to internal and external structures in print and braille
• Three tactile cell templates representing bacterial, animal and plant cells
• One set of bacterial internal structures
• One set of animal organelles
• One set of plant organelles
• Three storage panels
• Fifty hook coins
• Build-A-Cell Student and Teacher Guide in large print
• Build-A-Cell Student and Teacher Guide in embossed braille (UEB) in a three-ring binder
• A print parts list
• A braille parts list

Features

• Bacterial, animal, and plant cell templates with colored tactile external structures surrounding an interior of black loop material where the cell's internal structures and organelles can be attached
• A rod-shaped bacterial cell template with colored tactile external structures including a capsule, cell wall, cell membrane, fimbriae, and flagellum
• One set of bacterial cell internal structures including the nucleoid, ribosomes, polysomes, and plasmids
• An oblong animal cell template with a colored tactile representation of the cell membrane
• One set of animal cell organelles and internal structures including the nucleus, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosome, peroxisome, cytoskeleton, ribosomes, mitochondrion, and centrosome
• A rectangular plant cell template with colored tactile external structures including the cell wall and cell membrane
• One set of plant organelles and internal structures including the nucleus, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, peroxisome, cytoskeleton, ribosomes, mitochondrion, chloroplast, and vacuole
• Different cell models readily available for students and teachers
• Models that can be used in a lesson and to assess understanding of related concepts
• Models that give teachers a choice as to what features of the cell structure they want to present to the student
• Provides teachers with the ability to demonstrate many different levels of detail for each cell type
• Aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards

Technical specifications