LESSON 2

The Cell Theory

Overview
The cell theory holds some very basic and important claims that are essential to
our concept of life on Earth. According to this theory, the cell serves as the structural,
physiological, systemic, and organizational unit of life. The three postulates of the cell
theory are:
Peace Concept:
Specific Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this lesson, the students can:
1. determine the events that led to the cell theory;
2. explain the postulates of the cell theory; and
3. describe how the cell theory disproved the belief of spontaneous generation.
Materials
Video clip, PowerPoint presentation, module and pictures
Duration: 2 Hr

Learning Content
A century passed before several improvements on the microscope were made.
These latest microscopes were used by Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor
Schwann. Schleiden was a professor of botany at the university of Jena, Germany.
Schwann was a professor of physiology at the University of Louvain, Belgium.
Schleiden published his research in 1838, which was based on several years of
studying different types of plants under microscope. Schwann published his research a
year later, based on his study of several slides of animal cells. Their research became
the bases of the first two postulates of the cell theory:
1. All organisms are made up of cells.
2. The basic unit of life is the cell.
The first two postulates support the idea that the cell is the foundation of life.
 3. All organisms have one or more cells. No organism can exist without a cell
that will support its body processes that it needs to survive.
The last postulate was eventually proven by Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow in 1858.
Virchow, upon studying how cells played a role in body diseases at that time, noticed
that the existence of diseases in the organs and tissues come from affected cells. It was
believed however, that this discovery was initially made by Robert Remak, a Jewish
scientist in 1855, when he tried to prove the idea of cell division by hardening the cell
membrane.
The Theory of Spontaneous Generation
Aristotle (384–322 BC) a Greek philosopher 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. The cell theory’s
third postulate directly contradicts the theory of spontaneous generation.
Francesco Redi (1626-1697) to test the validity of the spontaneous generation theory
Redi experimented on fresh meat in jars.
John Needham (1713-1781) also made a test to check the validity of spontaneous
generation. That time people already believed that boiling could kill microorganisms. In
Needham’s experiment, he boiled the chicken broth in a container, and then sealed it.
Days later, microorganisms still grew on the surface of the chicken broth. He presented
this as a piece of evidence that supported the theory of spontaneous generation
because there was no other source of life other than the broth.
Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799) was not convinced by the experiment of Needham.
He thought that microorganism may have entered the broth from the air between the
time after the broth has cooled and before the jar was sealed. He set-out to do another
experiment to test the hypothesis. In his experiment, he sealed the flask and then boiled
the chicken broth in it. After few daus, no microorganisms were observed in the flask.
He subjected another flask with chicken broth to the same conditions, except that the
flask was not sealed. Microorganisms grew in this flask. He saw his results as proof that
the theory of spontaneous generation could not be true.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) in he’s experiment he put the meat broth in two separate S-
shape flasks without a seal, and then boiled the broth tokill any existing microbes. He
broke the swan neck from the first S-shape flask, while retaining the swan neck in the
other. Dust particles eventually fell on the broth in the first flask, whereas the dust
particles only got through the bottom bend of the swan neck on the second flask,
keeping the broth sterile. The broth in the first flask quickly became cloudy, a sign that
microorganisms were introduced through the dust particles, and that these
microorganisms did not arise from the broth itself. This finally proved that the theory of
spontaneous generation was flawed.
Learning Activity/ Learning Evaluation
Direction: Fill in the table. Explain the experiment of each scientist regarding the
discovery of the cell and mention the experiment they conducted to prove or disprove
the theory of Spontaneous Generation.

Scientist Experiment Postulate/Findings

Zacharias Janssen
Robert Hooke
Antonie van
Leeuwenhoek
Aristotle (384–322 BC)
Francesco Redi
John Needham
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Louis Pasteur

Learning Evaluation
Direction: Answer the following questions in a 1 whole sheet of paper.
1. Among these scientists, which do you think had the greatest impact in the study
of life? Justify your answer.
2. If you were a scientist from the 1900s, what discovery would you like to have
made yourself? Why did you choose this discovery?
3. Who proposed the theory of Spontaneous Generation? Describe his experiment.
What flaws can you observe in his experiment?
4. Who Finally disproved the theory of spontaneous generation? Describe his
experiment.
5. How did the development of technology affect the formulation of the cell theory?

References

1. Regalado, T.B & De Guzman, M., Biology 2; Published by Jimczyville Publication,

2017
2. Almira B. Gacutan, MAEd., Teaching Guide for Senior High School Teachers;
Published by the Commission on Higher Education, 2016
3. Mark Archei O. Javier, General Biology 2; Published by Diwa Learning System INC.,
2017
4. Fowler S., Clayto State University, Roush R., Sandhills Community College, Wise J.,
Hampton University., Concepts of Biology; Published by OpenStax; 2017
5. Charles Molnar and Jane Gair, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License https://opentextbc.ca/biology/part/introduction-to-biology/
6. Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University, 1998-2022 Optical
Microscopy Primer https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/museum/janssen.html