Help students understand the cell cycle and cancer with this Grade 12 biology worksheet.
Students will review checkpoints, mutations, mitosis, and uncontrolled cell growth.
Cell Cycle and Cancer — Practice
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Try these before or after you print the worksheet. The printable asks you to fill in the words. This asks what the checkpoints are for — because cancer is most easily understood as what happens when those checks fail.
Question 1 — put them in order
Click these in order, following one cell through its cycle.
Interphase → checkpoint → mitosis → division. The checkpoint sits before division on purpose: it is far better to catch a fault than to copy it into two cells.
Question 2
What do the checkpoints in the cell cycle do?
They verify before letting the cycle continue. Is the DNA copied correctly? Is the cell big enough? A failed check should stop the cycle.
Question 3
What is a tumor?
A mass of abnormal cells. It is the visible result of cells dividing when they should not.
Question 4
During which stage does the cell grow and copy its DNA?
Interphase — and it takes up most of the cycle. Mitosis is the short, dramatic part at the end.
Question 5
How is cancer related to mutation?
Mutations in the control genes. Most mutations do nothing of the sort — it is specifically damage to the machinery that regulates division that matters here.
Question 6 — select all that apply
Select every true statement about the cell cycle, then press Check.
Interphase first, checkpoints can halt the cycle, and mutations can disrupt it. Interphase is the long part, cancer cells ignore checkpoints, and most cells are not dividing at any given moment.
Think about it
Checkpoints can stop the cycle. What might happen if one stopped working?
Mitosis produces two identical cells. Why is copying the DNA correctly so important beforehand?
Most of your cells are not dividing right now. Which ones do divide often, and why?
Why might a treatment that targets dividing cells have side effects?