MS-LS1-1: Evidence That Living Things Are Made of Cells
Also called NGSS MS-LS1-1 · Topic: Structure, Function, and Information Processing · Life Science
The Official Wording
Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on developing evidence that living things are made of cells, distinguishing between living and non-living things, and understanding that living things may be made of one cell or many and varied cells.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What MS-LS1-1 Means in Plain English
Students use microscopes and hand lenses to collect evidence that every living thing is built from cells. Some organisms, like many tiny ones in pond water, are a single cell, while plants and animals are made of many cells of different kinds.
Students also use cells as evidence to sort living from non-living things. This standard has no assessment boundary, and it leads straight into how cell parts work (MS-LS1-2) and how cells build tissues and organs (MS-LS1-3).
MS-LS1-1 I Can Statements
- I can use a microscope to find cells in a sample.
- I can tell single-celled from many-celled living things.
- I can use cells as evidence that something is alive.
MS-LS1-1 Worked Example
A microscope survey a class can run with four slides, from a moss leaf to craft glitter.
Which samples are made of cells, and what does that tell us about whether they are alive?
Set It Up: Classroom microscopes, slides and cover slips, a moss leaf, a drop of pond water, a thin cork slice and a pinch of craft glitter.
- Lay a single moss leaf in a drop of water and view it at 100 times.Rows of small green cells
- View a drop of pond water and follow anything that moves.Single-celled organisms swimming
- View the thin cork slice.Empty boxes, cell walls left behind
- View the glitter.Flat shiny flakes, no cells
- Sort the samples into one cell, many cells, once living, or never living.Sorting table filled in
The moss and pond organisms showed cells, the cork showed empty cell walls from bark that was once alive, and the glitter showed none.
Why it works: All living things are made of one or more cells, so finding cells is strong evidence that a sample is or once was alive.
Common Mistakes with MS-LS1-1
Expecting to see cells without a microscope
“I can't see any cells in my skin, so it isn't made of cells.”
Try this: Most cells are far too small to see without magnification. A microscope shows that skin, leaves and muscle are all built from cells.
Thinking one cell is not really alive
“Bacteria are just one cell, so they aren't really living.”
Try this: One cell can be a whole organism. Single-celled life still takes in food, gets rid of waste, grows and reproduces.
Treating movement as proof of life
“The glitter moved in the water, so it's alive.”
Try this: Moving is not enough evidence. Look for cells, which every living thing has and non-living things like glitter or rocks never do.
Where MS-LS1-1 Fits
Practice MS-LS1-1
Quick Check
- A rock and a dead branch lie on the ground. How could a microscope tell them apart?
- Is a single yeast cell an organism?
- How does a human differ from an amoeba in terms of cells?