NAGA CITY SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL Class No.

Balatas, Naga City

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

GENERAL BIOLOGY 1
QUARTER 1 - LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET # 2
Theory of Spontaneous Generation & Cell Theory
LAST NAME FIRST NAME Date:

Birkin Domesticus Grazielae Hederaceum Selloum Score:

I. INTRODUCTION
Where does life come from? Religion, philosophy, and science have
all wrestled with this question. One of the oldest explanations was the
theory of spontaneous generation, which can be traced back to the
ancient Greeks and was widely accepted through the middle Ages. Most
biologists believe that life arose spontaneously from inanimate matter, but the
details of how this could have happened remain unknown and the time scale
was long.
What is it really all about? What are the real tenets of the cell theory?
That is what you are going to find out.

II. LEARNING COMPETENCY

At the end of learning the concepts, you should be able to:

1. Describe the tenets of spontaneous generation

2. Explain the postulates of the cell theory
3. Name some scientist who worked for the formulation of the cell theory

Your PARENT/ GUARDIAN must sign here:

Name: _________________________________ Signature: __________________

III. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

ELICIT Activity 1: Search Me

Direction: Match the items on the left to the items on the right. Write the letter
and word for each number.
1. Determined that all animals were made of cells a. Hooke
2. Looked at cork and called it “cells” b. Virchow
3. Determined that all cells come from pre-existing cells c. Schwann
4. Invented the first compound microscope d. Schleiden
5. Determined that all plants are made up of cell e. Leeuwenhoek

ENGAGE
Activity 2: Watch and Learn

Go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_57hCdUg4w and define

Spontaneous generation.

Spontaneous Generation is…..

EXPLORE Activity 3: I Know what you did!

Direction: Write the contribution of the following scientists about

spontabneous generation and cell theory.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek Matthias Schleiden

Theodore Schwann

Rudolph Virchow

EXPLAIN
Share your thought!

Do you agree with the thoughts of spontaneous generation? Why or why

not? State your reason straight to the point.

ELABORATE

The Theory of Spontaneous Generation

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) was one of the earliest
recorded scholars to articulate the theory of spontaneous generation, the notion
that life can arise from nonliving matter. Aristotle proposed that life arose from
nonliving material if the material contained pneuma (“vital heat”). As evidence, he
noted several instances of the appearance of animals from environments previously
devoid of such animals, such as the seemingly sudden appearance of fish in a new
puddle of water.

This theory persisted into the seventeenth century, when scientists undertook
additional experimentation to support or disprove it. By this time, the proponents of
the theory cited how frogs simply seem to appear along the muddy banks of the Nile
River in Egypt during the annual flooding. Others observed that mice simply
appeared among grain stored in barns with thatched roofs. When the roof leaked and
the grain molded, mice appeared. Jan Baptista van Helmont, a seventeenth century
Flemish scientist, proposed that mice could arise from rags and wheat kernels left in
an open container for 3 weeks. In reality, such habitats provided ideal food sources
and shelter for mouse populations to flourish.

However, one of van Helmont’s contemporaries, Italian physician Francesco

Redi (1626–1697), performed an experiment in 1668 that was one of the first to
refute the idea that maggots (the larvae of flies) spontaneously generate on meat left
out in the open air. He predicted that preventing flies from having direct contact with
the meat would also prevent the appearance of maggots. Redi left meat in each of six
containers (Figure 1). Two were open to the air, two were covered with gauze, and
two were tightly sealed. His hypothesis was supported when maggots developed in
the uncovered jars, but no maggots appeared in either the gauze-covered or the
tightly sealed jars. He concluded that maggots could only form when flies were
allowed to lay eggs in the meat, and that the maggots were the offspring of flies, not
the product of spontaneous generation.

Figure 1. Francesco Redi’s experimental setup consisted of an open container,

a container sealed with a cork top, and a container covered in mesh that let in air
but not flies. Maggots only appeared on the meat in the open container. However,
maggots were also found on the gauze of the gauze-covered container.

In 1745, John Needham (1713–1781) published a report of his own

experiments, in which he briefly boiled broth infused with plant or animal matter,
hoping to kill all preexisting microbes. He then sealed the flasks. After a few days,
Needham observed that the broth had become cloudy and a single drop contained
numerous microscopic creatures. He argued that the new microbes must have arisen
spontaneously. In reality, however, he likely did not boil the broth enough to kill all
preexisting microbes.

Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799) did not agree with Needham’s conclusions,

however, and performed hundreds of carefully executed experiments using heated
broth. As in Needham’s experiment, broth in sealed jars and unsealed jars was
infused with plant and animal matter. Spallanzani’s results contradicted the findings
of Needham: Heated but sealed flasks remained clear, without any signs of
spontaneous growth, unless the flasks were subsequently opened to the air. This
suggested that microbes were introduced into these flasks from the air. In response
to Spallanzani’s findings, Needham argued that life originates from a “life force” that
was destroyed during Spallanzani’s extended boiling. Any subsequent sealing of the
flasks then prevented new life force from entering and causing spontaneous
generation (Figure 2).

Figure 2. (a) Francesco Redi, who demonstrated that maggots were the
offspring of flies, not products of spontaneous generation. (b) John Needham, who
argued that microbes arose spontaneously in broth from a “life force.” (c) Lazzaro
Spallanzani, whose experiments with broth aimed to disprove those of Needham.

The debate over spontaneous generation continued well into the

nineteenth century, with scientists serving as proponents of both sides. To settle the
debate, the Paris Academy of Sciences offered a prize for resolution of the problem.
Louis Pasteur, a prominent French chemist who had been studying microbial
fermentation and the causes of wine spoilage, accepted the challenge. In 1858,
Pasteur filtered air through a gun-cotton filter and, upon microscopic examination
of the cotton, found it full of microorganisms, suggesting that the exposure of a broth
to air was not introducing a “life force” to the broth but rather airborne
microorganisms.

Later, Pasteur made a series of flasks with long, twisted necks (“swan-neck”
flasks), in which he boiled broth to sterilize it (Figure 3). His design allowed air inside
the flasks to be exchanged with air from the outside, but prevented the introduction
of any airborne microorganisms, which would get caught in the twists and bends of
the flasks’ necks. If a life force besides the airborne microorganisms were responsible
for microbial growth within the sterilized flasks, it would have access to the broth,
whereas the microorganisms would not. He correctly predicted that sterilized broth
in his swan-neck flasks would remain sterile as long as the swan necks remained
intact. However, should the necks be broken, microorganisms would be introduced,
contaminating the flasks and allowing microbial growth within the broth.

Pasteur’s set of experiments irrefutably disproved the theory of spontaneous

generation and earned him the prestigious Alhumbert Prize from the Paris Academy
of Sciences in 1862. In a subsequent lecture in 1864, Pasteur articulated “Omne
vivum ex vivo” (“Life only comes from life”). In this lecture, Pasteur recounted his
famous swan-neck flask experiment, stating that “life is a germ and a germ is life.
Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow of
this simple experiment.
 To Pasteur’s credit, it never has. See the details of his experiment below:

Figure 3. (a) French scientist Louis Pasteur, who definitively refuted the
long-disputed theory of spontaneous generation. (b) The unique swan-neck
feature of the flasks used in Pasteur’s experiment allowed air to enter the flask
but prevented the entry of bacterial and fungal spores. (c) Pasteur’s
experiment consisted of two parts. In the first part, the broth in the flask was
boiled to sterilize it. When this broth was cooled, it remained free of
contamination. In the second part of the experiment, the flask was boiled and
then the neck was broken off. The broth in this flask became contaminated.
(Credit by: modification of work by “Wellcome Images”/Wikimedia Commons
 Little is much: Understanding the Cork

The discovery of cells was made

possible by the development of the
microscope in the 17th century. In 1665,
an English scientist, Robert Hooke,
examined a thin slice of cork under the
microscope. He observed that the piece
of cork was composed of many tiny
compartments which resembled little
rooms with surrounding wall. Hooke
named these compartments cells. The
cells that Hooke observed were not
living. He concentrated his study only on
the structure, particularly on the cell
wall, and did not pursue his
investigation of the cell content.
In 1674, the Dutch inventor
Antoine Van Leuwenhoek observed red blood cells, sperms and a myriad of single-
celled organisms in pond water. He discovered free cells and observed the nucleus
within some red blood cells. Leuwenhoek was a contemporary of Robert Hooke. He
had more success in living cells in action despite his smaller, simpler, handled
microscopes.
Over the next 200 years after Hooke, another scientist, a Scottish botanist
named Robert Brown, made a general conclusion in 1831. He discovered the
nucleus and theorized that this structure is a fundamental and a constant
component of the cell.
In 1835, a French biologist, Felix Dujardin found out that living cells
contained an internal substance. Not knowing exactly what this substance was,
Dujardin gave it the name sarcode. It was a Bohemian physiologist, Jan Evangelista
Purkinje, who made a thorough investigation of this internal material. He gave it the
name protoplasm, a term coined for the colloidal substance in the cell which is
currently known as cytoplasm.
In 1838, Matthias Schleiden, a German botanist, stated that all plants are
composed of cells. After him, in 1839, Theodore Schwann, a German zoologist,
concluded that all animals are composed of cells. Jointly, Schleiden and Schwann
came out with the theory that all living things are composed of cells. Twenty years
later, in 1858, a German biologist, Rudolph Virchow, theorized that all living cells
come from pre-existing living cells. His conclusion arose from observing dividing cells
while he was at work.

These observations became the major components of the cell theory.

The cell theory states that:
1. All living things are composed of one or more cells and cell products.
2. All living cells come from other living cells by the process of cell division.
3. Cells are the basic units of structure and function on organism
Source: https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_cells_lesson01
 EXTEND Activity 5. CELL THEORY SUMMARY TABLE

Direction: The table below indicates events that led to the cell theory.
Complete the table by filling in the blank spaces.

Date Scientist Discovery

1665 a. ___________________ Examine the thin slice of

cork

b. _________ Anton Van Leeuwenhoek c. ____________________

1838 Matthias Schleiden d. ___________________

e. _________ f. ____________________ Stated that all animals

are made up of cell

1858 g. ____________________ h. ____________________

EVALUATE
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the
chosen letter on the space before the number.
1. What is the term which means life comes from non-life?
a. Abiotic
b. Biotic
c. Abiogenesis
d. Biogenesis
2. Which tatement is NOT part of the cell theory?
a. Cells are the basic unit of structure and function in all living things.
b. All cells are produced from other cells.
c. Only animal cells are composed of cells.
d. All living things are composed of cells
3.Which statement proves that all living things on Earth are alike?
a. All living things have hair
b. All living things are made of cells and come from other cells
c. The cells of all living things have chloroplast
d. All living things can move
5. Why are microscopes important when studying most cells?
a. Most cells are very large
b. Most cells are very small
c. Most cells move very quickly
d. Most cells are dead

6. Which scientist concluded that all ANIMALS are made up of cells?

a. Rudolf Virchow
b. Matthias Schleiden
c. Robert Hooke
d. Theodor Schwann

7. Which is NOT one of the main components of the cell theory?

a. cells must contain DNA
b. all living things are made of cells
c. cells can only come from other cells
d. cells are the basic unit of life

8. Which belief was disprove by Rudolph Virchow's observations?

a. evolution
b. the existence of molecules
c. spontaneous generation
d. atomic models

9. Which technology was essential for the development of the cell theory?
a. Telescopes
b. Antiseptics
c. Microwaves
d. Microscopes

10. Which is a key difference between Needham's and Spallanzani's experiments

testing the idea of spontaneous generation?
a. Needham heated his broth while Spallanzani did not.
b. Spallanzani heated his broth while Needham did not
c. Needham sealed his flasks tightly while Spallanzani did not.
d. Spallanzani sealed his flasks tightly while Needham did not.

The End