Big Idea 18: Matter and Energy Transformations

In this lesson, students will model cellular respiration during a simulation and by creating a drawing. Students will follow a storyline in which manipulatives are used to represent primary components of cellular respiration. Students will keep a Respiration Record of the steps in cellular respiration as they complete the simulation. Students will then create a drawing model of cellular respiration. Finally, an exit ticket assesses the outcomes of the lesson with respect to the learning goal of being able to explain cellular respiration in terms of the flow of energy and matter.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will collect and analyze data on the movement of carbon atoms through the carbon cycle. Students will be introduced to climate change caused by greenhouse gases and participate in a simulation of the carbon cycle. Students will develop an understanding of how the movement of carbon atoms can contribute to climate change. Students will model the carbon cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will actively manipulate materials to model the reactants and products of photosynthesis. A PowerPoint presentation is provided as is a worksheet that can be collected as a summative assessment.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create carbon cycle character game cards and work in small groups to play a turn-based game. They will play the game by placing their own card on a central card pile to identify the next step in the carbon cycle. As each card is played, the players will then brainstorm on how the carbon atom was transferred from the previous card to the recently-played card. The final activity will involve student groups creating a poster model of their carbon atom journey and going on a 'gallery walk' to observe the carbon cycles of other groups. Each set of cards is unique because it is produced by the students!

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides a PowerPoint on the four main cycles of matter and how they follow the Law of Conservation of Mass. The instruction is followed by time for the student to build their own models and explain how they demonstrate the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an active learning lesson plan in which students will act as carbon atoms and move through various stages of the carbon cycle. They will visit the living and nonliving parts of the carbon cycle and record which reservoirs they visit. They will then compare their journey to that of other students. The culminating activity will involve students completing a drawn model of the carbon cycle that explains each of the possible steps.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity is a lab exercise where students look at the passing of water in cups and compare it to the available energy in an ecosystem. During this activity, students will be actively engaged in modeling energy transfer. Students will collect data, graph it and respond to reflection questions to connect the data to what happens in an ecosystem. Once complete, students will apply their observations to food chains and the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy. This activity is a great way to lead into a discussion of local ecosystems and native species.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will help students understand the concepts of cellular respiration and fermentation with multiple-day activities. Students will be able to compare and contrast the two processes through the use of an interactive lab where students will provide varied amounts of sugar to yeast and record CO₂ production.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is designed to have students investigate the possible path that a hypothetical atom of carbon could have taken before it ended up in them. The students, in groups, will first brainstorm all the information they know about carbon. They will then be given twenty flash cards. The students will be asked to depict five placements of the carbon longitudinally through time, with approximate dates, until it ends up in them in present day. The students will gather information from class discussion and the cards themselves in order to portray the possible path. After the timeline is completed, the students will be asked to compose a narrative from the perspective of the hypothetical carbon atom that will describe each of the events in the timeline.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students investigate the increase of their respiration rate of carbon dioxide due to the change of energy from chemical potential energy to kinetic energy. This lesson plan involves students doing physical activities to see the change from potential to kinetic energy.

Type: Lesson Plan

So many fish in the sea? How does our changing climate bear on marine life and the carbon balance on our planet? Students will examine applications of the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy and determine how all the pieces fit together. Students will learn about attempted solutions to the problem of increased carbon dioxide and evaluate effectiveness.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is an introduction lesson that provides students with the basics concepts of aerobic and anaerobic respiration. The lesson centers around a reading passage and lab activity. By the end of the lesson students should be able to complete a concept map to compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a lesson that addresses standards and misconceptions associated with Big Idea 18 about Matter and Energy Transformations as related to photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The lesson also embeds a review of other related standards for which the students possesses prior knowledge. The lesson is vertically aligned to review classification of organisms, taxonomy, and build from related introductory activities into learning about cell types, organelles and their structures, and functions, with an emphasis on the chloroplast and the mitochondrion and their role in photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The lesson scaffolds text coding, note taking, charting, answering media dependent questions and culminates in a summative written essay assessment. An alternative short response exam has been included which could be used as an exam or the questions could be used as formative questions throughout the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will explore using open and closed systems can be used to explain the Law of Conservation of Mass. The students will also observe a chemical reaction to determine if mass is conserved. The student will also perform research to understand that living systems follow the Law of Conservation of Mass.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson connects the Carbon Cycle with the elevation of global temperatures causing dissolution of carbon-containing substances and rise in acidity. Students conduct a simulation experiment and model carbon loss due to temperature changes lowering pH.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will elaborate on the topic of photosynthesis and clear up any misconceptions that your students may have with regard to the purpose of photosynthesis.  Students will learn the roles of light, carbon dioxide, water, and chlorophyll; about food production; and about the release of oxygen by plants.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about the carbon cycle through videos, notes, model building, and culminate with written responses.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will investigate the process photosynthesis. They will focus on identification of reactants - carbon dioxide, water and light energy, and products - glucose, water, and oxygen by utilizing interactive game pieces. Students will write an explanation of the process of photosynthesis.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will investigate how BTB works. Under what conditions does a color change occur? What causes the color change? This is a precursor to labs in which the students are investigating respiration or photosynthesis and using BTB as an indicator.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will investigate the process of respiration by investigating the question: How does exercise affect the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled? They will use bromothymol blue to time how fast it changes color before and after exercising. They will be guided into an understanding of the process of cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

Light is necessary for photosynthesis to occur. In this activity students will expose aquatic plants to varying amounts of light and record the amount of bubbles produced as a result.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will play the role of a carbon atom and will move to different stations in the class room learning about ways in which carbon can move between and among organisms and their environment.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how food is broken down to produce energy for cells in the in the form of ATP in this interactive tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Follow our quest to learn how the element carbon is cycled on Earth with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how matter and energy are continuously transferred within and between organisms and their physical environment and cite evidence that living systems follow the Laws of Conservation of Mass and Energy with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about the process of photosynthesis and ways that plants convert energy from the sun into glucose with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Angela Dial discusses how she solves systems of equations to determine how the composition of ocean floor sediment has changed over 65 million years to help reveal more information regarding climate change.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Good food and exercise lead to great health!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

How much food do you need to cross the Pacific in a kayak? Get a calculator and a bag of almonds before you watch this.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Calorie-dense foods can power the human body across the ocean? Feel the burn.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

This outdoor lab activity deals with the nutrient cycle, specifically decomposition. Students will observe two fallen logs in different states of decomposition, and record and explain the roles of the different decomposers that they find.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This tutorial is designed to help secondary science teachers learn how to integrate literacy skills within their curriculum. This tutorial focuses on determining an author's purpose and point of view. The focus on literacy across content areas is designed to help students independently build knowledge in different disciplines through reading and writing.

Type: Professional Development

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Carbon, an essential part of life on Earth, exists in a never-ending cycle. It is continually moving back and forth between living and non-living factors, as well as from organism to organism. Soil, with its ability to "lock up" carbon, plays a major role in the carbon cycle. Atmospheric CO2 levels are linked to climate change, so ways of keeping carbon locked in soil are of great interest to scientists.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the reasons why some leaves change color in the fall. It contains background information on why leaves turn different colors and how red pigment is especially different, chemically, from the others.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explains how carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is changing the oceans. The text describes ocean acidification and ocean warming. The text gives examples of ecosystems that are changing as a result.

Type: Text Resource

This unit/ lesson sequence describes the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen. It includes descriptions of class room inquiry-based activities including worksheets and assessment items.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this series of 10 investigations, students gain experience with the evidence of chemical change - production of a gas, change in temperature, color change, and formation of a precipitate. Students begin by observing that similar-looking powders can be differentiated by the way they react chemically with certain test liquids. Students then use their chemical tests and observations to identify an unknown powder and, in a follow-up activity, to identify the active ingredients in baking powder. Students continue to explore chemical change by using a thermometer to observe that temperature either increases or decreases during chemical reactions. Then they control these reactions by adjusting the amount of reactants. In another set of activities, students use the color changes of red cabbage indicator to classify substances as acids or bases, neutralize solutions, and compare the relative acidity of two different solutions. Students conclude the investigation by comparing a precipitate to one of the reactants that formed it. Students see that a new substance was created during the chemical reaction. Information and questions about photosynthesis and cellular respiration are included as examples of chemical changes on pages 316-318 of this resource.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

A collection of crossword puzzles that test the knowledge of students about some of the terms, processes, and classifications covered in science topics

Type: Video/Audio/Animation