Bio Unit 3 Bioenergetics

Unit Plan

Grade/ Grade Band: 8th Grade Science / 9th

Topic: Bioenergetics Series of 4 lessons
Grade Biology
Brief Lesson Description:

Lesson 1: Students will be able to observe sources of energy from demonstrations of chemical reactions. The instructor will combust various
objects such as a Ritz cracker, a penny, a beaker of sugar, butter, and a tissue. Students may be familiar with how some of these substances
would react and could make predictions based on knowledge that they may be able to apply from the macromolecules unit. Students will be
able to interpret their observations of these reactions and utilize them to determine if chemical reactions are occurring. Students should be
able to observe changes in properties of matter and interpret that as a sign of chemical reactions. Students will also be able to conclude where
they are able to witness energy and energy transfers from the reactions and will discuss their findings with the instructor.

Lesson 2: Learners will use videos and data to provide evidence of plant growth. Students will use the videos of plant growth and support
their ideas with probing questions determining what is qualitatively changing about the shape of a growing plant as well as what is occurring
with the matter of the plant. By using data in the second activity, students are able to determine that the majority of the mass of a plant is
derived from carbohydrates. The instructor will support student ideas about the macroscopic scale of plant growth with supporting questions
and ideas about cellulose and how that substance is specifically made for forming plant structures.

Lesson 3: Students are able to scaffold concepts about photosynthesis by exploring experimental evidence (isotopic labeling) to form
conclusions about the matter that constructs plants. Students will be given the general reaction that plants use to obtain their matter and
energy and will use their knowledge of atoms, chemical reactions, and matter to assess how matter is rearranged within chemical reactions to
contribute to plant growth.

Lesson 4: Students will utilize Lego atomic models of the reactants needed for photosynthesis to support the concepts explored in the
previous lesson. Students will track the atoms needed to construct the glucose molecules (and oxygen gas) that make up the products of
photosynthesis. As an extension, the instructor will allow students to interpret the data they collected from this activity to build a discussion
around photosynthetic reactions within plants, as well as the significance of the matter that contributes to different reactions within plants
(light and dark reactions).

Prior Student Knowledge: By this point students should understand that matter and atoms are not created or destroyed but instead
rearranged in the processes of certain chemical reactions. Students should be able to identify sources and examples of energy specifically
where evidence of energy release could be identified in examples of chemical reactions. Students should be able to determine evidence for
chemical reactions based on changes in properties of substances throughout chemical reactions.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

Lesson 1:
Energy is stored within compounds
Chemical reactions are able to break down compounds and release energy in the forms of heat and light
Chemical reactions can form new compounds and store energy
Activation energy is needed to provide enough energy to complete chemical reactions

Lesson 2:
Plants are able to create different structures as they grow
The plant structures that are build from growing are mostly made of carbohydrates. These carbohydrates possess different properties
than the glucose molecules that plants eventually produce

Lesson 3:
Plants use carbon dioxide and water that are obtained from their environment to make glucose and oxygen gas

Lesson 4:
Isotopic labeling is a tool that scientists use to track matter in chemical reactions
There is a certain number of reactant molecules needed to create the products of photosynthesis
Physical models can help us understand how matter is rearranged in chemical reactions

Narrative / Background Information

Performance Expectation(s):

Lesson 1:
Describe sources of energy from chemical reactions
Explain how substances derived from macromolecules would react to being burned
Identify sources of energy release from the combustion various materials
 Describe how energy is transferred from the combustion of certain materials

Lesson 2:
Explain the depth of plan growth based on qualitative data
Explain that plants are mostly made up of carbohydrates and why the molecules that make up plants are different than their
individual glucose sugar monomers
Interpret data based on plant composition to understand that carbohydrates are the major building block of plants

Lesson 3:
Identify the molecules plants use to obtain the necessary atoms to construct their body structures
Describe how isotopic labeling can be used to identify how plants obtain the glucose monomers needed for them to construct
cellulose

Lesson 4:
Identify the molecules plants use to obtain the necessary atoms to construct their body structures
Describe how isotopic labeling can be used to identify how plants obtain the glucose monomers needed for them to construct
cellulose
Use LEGO models to explain the reactants and products related to the reactions necessary for constructing molecules necessary for
plant structures
Use LEGO models to reinforce the concepts discussed about isotopic labeling and how it is pertinent to how atoms flow between
the environment and plants

Science & Engineering Practices: Disciplinary Core Ideas: Crosscutting Concepts:

Developing and Using Models
Modeling in 912 builds on K8
experiences and progresses to
using, synthesizing, and
developing models to predict and
show relationships among
variables between systems and
their components in the natural
and designed worlds.
Use a model based on
evidence to illustrate the
relationships between systems
or between components of a
system. (HS-LS1-5),(HS-LS1-7)
Develop a model based on
evidence to illustrate the
relationships between systems
or components of a system.
(HS-LS2-5)
PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Systems and System Models
Energy Transfer Models can be used to
Conservation of energy predict the behavior of a
means that the total system, but these predictions
change of energy in any have limited precision and
system is always equal to reliability due to the
the total energy assumptions and
transferred into or out of approximations inherent in
the system. models.
Energy cannot be created
or destroyed, but it can be
transported from one place
to another and transferred
between systems.
Energy and Matter
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and
Changes of energy and
Energy Flow in Organisms
matter in a system can be
The sugar molecules thus described in terms of energy
formed contain carbon,
and matter flows into, out of,
hydrogen, and oxygen:
and within that system. (HS-
their hydrocarbon
LS1-5), (HS-LS1-6)
backbones are used to
make amino acids and
other carbon-based
molecules that can be
assembled into larger
molecules (such as
proteins or DNA), used for
example to form new cells.
(HS-LS1-6)
As matter and energy flow
through different
organizational levels of
living systems, chemical
elements are recombined
in different ways to form
different products. (HS-
LS1-6),(HS-LS1-7)
The process of
 photosynthesis converts
light energy to stored
chemical energy by
converting carbon dioxide
plus water into sugars plus
released oxygen. (HS-LS1-
5)

Possible Preconceptions/Misconceptions:

According to findings based on research completed by the Project 2061 assessment study (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.) it showed that students
typically: do not associate growth of structures with an increase in mass of an organism, thinks that the matter and mass derived from gaseous
compounds is negligible, and do not connect ideas of growth and repair with as being derived from products created from chemical reactions

LESSON PLAN Lesson 1

Do-Now:
o On the front table I have three objects: a cracker, a piece of butter, a penny, sugar, and a tissue.
Make a prediction of what would happen to each of these objects if I burned them?
Which of the objects would burn the most?
Instruction:
o After students have made their predictions on the two pre-demonstration questions, instruct the students to be
ready to take observations chemical reactions with each object within their packet. The instructor will burn each
of the materials and students will write down their observations of what occurs with each object. This should be
done as an instructor demonstration and proper laboratory safety should be taken. The instructor should allow for
students to position themselves so that they would be able to see the demonstration properly to write down their
observations. After each object has burned for a reasonable amount of time, hold up each object so that students
can also take observations on what the materials look like after the reaction.
o Students will answer the remaining activity questions based on their observations:
Where did you see evidence of energy in each of these reactions?
Where did the energy come from with each reaction?
Where was the energy before the reaction?
What was the role of the lighter in these reactions? Is the role the lighter fills in this chemical reaction
similar to a certain macromolecule we have talked about? If so, which one and why?
o After the students are finished writing down their responses to their questions, ask for some volunteers to state
their answers and the instructor will establish how these ideas are connected to the prior unit, and to how plants
function and grow as well as clearing up misconceptions along the way. Students are expected to take some
notes on the scientific principles relevant to this demonstration and the instructor will provide an area to do that
within the students worksheet.
Materials:
o Lighter/Bunsen Burner
o 1 Penny
o 1 Beaker (for sugar combustion)
o 1 teaspoon of butter
o 1 paper towel
o Student Weekly Packet
Homework:
o Watch the video of the corn plant growing. Write down what body structures are changing on this corn plant
due 11/21/17
LESSON PLAN Lesson 2

Do-Now:
o Observe the video and photos of plant growth. As you answer the questions below, think about the body
structures plants have that you can see and also the body structures you cant see:
What body structures are getting bigger as the pumpkin grows?
What body structures are getting bigger as the kudzu vines grow?
What body structures are getting bigger as the giant sequoia trees grow?
What body structures are being rebuilt as the tree heals a wound after one of its branches was pruned
(chopped off)?
Instruction:
o After students have made their observations on each video of plant growth, allow at for some students to
describe their observations. Do not focus the majority of the discussion based on how a plant was able to do this,
or where the matter came from but instead of what structures grew. After a number of students have given their
responses, direct students to look at table 1 located in the packet. This table details the change in mass for
various plants. Students are required to interpret the data and determine the amount of weight change for each
plant and if that change was positive or negative.
o Ask students what they identified for the answers of the tables and then direct them to answer the questions after
the table:
If each of the four types of plants increased in weight, what is happening to the amount of matter as
they grow?
What must be happening to the number of atoms making up the plants body structures?
Where do you think these atoms could have come from?
o After students have answered these questions, allow them to look at another table within their packet. This table
describes the relative mass of certain macromolecules that make up various plants as well as specific body
structures of each plant. Students are primarily required to identify the type of molecule that is present in the
largest amount in most of the plants body structures. After doing that, they are permitted to answer the
remaining questions for this days activity:
Are there any plant structures for which the molecule you circled is not present in the largest amount? If
so, which one(s)? Why do you think this plant has a different molecule with in its highest amount?
Based on the data in Table 2, what type of molecule do you think plants will need the most of in order
to make their bodies? Why do you think so?
What elements make up these molecules?
Where do you think the atoms for plant growth come from? List all of the places you think plants might
get atoms from:
Materials:
o Weekly Packet
Homework:
o Complete remaining activity questions and initial guided notes on plant growth and photosynthesis
LESSON PLAN Lesson 3

Do-Now:
o How do you think a plant obtains the necessary atoms needed to construct the carbohydrates that make up their
body structures? Where do plants obtain these atoms?
Instruction:
o The instructor will discuss the do-now question and probe students to connect their knowledge of
macromolecules as well as molecules that surround the environment of a plant.
o Introduce the purpose of the lesson and that the students are going to look at data of the substances that make up
plants. Allow students to turn to the third table in their packet and answer the questions based on the information
shown in the table:
Based on what you know about the molecular composition of glucose, which of the substances in the
table could supply the needed atoms?
Will any o the minerals plants take in from the environment become part of glucose? Why or why not?
o The teacher will then ask students what an isotope is and how it is different from a standard atom that we studied
in unit 2. After the students responses, show how an isotope is different than other atoms and that isotopes can
be used by scientist in something called isotopic labelling. Explain that these atoms act normally in chemical
reactions, but scientist are easily able to track them based on their instability.
o The instructor will provide two different tables for the students to utilize. These tables will describe the reactants
and products needed to generate the carbohydrate monomers necessary to construct plants. These tables will
describe the location of these isotopes and where they eventually end up in the products after a plant obtains
them.
What can scientists conclude from the location of carbon atoms based on the data of products and
reactants?
Does the data provide evidence for a conclusion about where the oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide
end up? Why or why not?
What can scientists conclude form the location of oxygen atoms based on the data of products and
reactants?
o Students will answer the remaining activity questions
Write the word equation for the chemical reaction that plants use to make glucose:
Write the chemical formulas for each product and reactant
Draw a diagram to illustrate the reaction shown in each table. Based on the data from the experiments,
use arrows to show where the C and O atoms are located in the reactants and where they end up in the
products of the reaction:
Materials:
o Student weekly packet
Homework:
o Read the abridged scientific article about an experiment conducted to determine the source of mass changes in
plants posted on Google Classroom and answer the questions pertinent to the article due 11/27/17
LESSON PLAN Lesson 4

Do-Now:
o Students will be instructed to construct the molecules of the reactants for the chemical reaction to create glucose
once students have done this in partners, the instructor will provide directions for the activity
Instruction:
o The instructor will tell students that they are going to be making the products of the reaction in creating glucose
using the molecules that they have constructed. The students are to refer to Tables 4 & 5 when completing the
reaction. The instructor will give students sticky notes to be able to indicate the isotopically labeled atoms that
are being observed within the reaction.
Students should make sure to keep track of the isotopically labeled elements and ensuring that they are
located in the proper location in each of the product molecules
The instructor will support the construction of these molecules by circling around the class and aiding
students in need. The instructor will also provide each group with reaction cards to help support what
molecules are being created in this reaction and what the models of their products should look like
o After each group has been given enough time to construct the products of the reaction, the teacher will review
the reaction and how it is related to plant growth as well as connecting principles of isotopic labeling
o After the students are finished discussing the ideas that they can explain using their models, they are to complete
questions 6 8 in their weekly packet
The instructor will aid students in answering these questions by putting the molecules involved on the
board
Materials:
o LEGO Molecular Models (per Group)
Carbon: 6 bricks
Oxygen: 18 bricks
Hydrogen: 12 bricks
o Sticky Notes Two per Group
o 3.1 & 3.2 Weekly Packet
Homework:
o Complete Unit 3.3 Photosynthesis Guided Notes due 12/01/17