Standard 18: Matter and Energy Transformations

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be presented with various chemical, physical, and organic leavening agents used in baking. They will predict, observe, compare, then explain the reactions chemical, physical, and organic leaveners have when introduced to a variety of ingredients/reactants.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will apply their knowledge of the structure and function of macromolecules in order to rank four school lunch menus for the National School Lunch Program. Students will practice communicating persuasively and professionally with public officials by providing insight to their ranking process through use of a letter that cites evidence and justifies reasoning in this model eliciting activity.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Type: Lesson Plan

This a lesson that focuses on the metabolic processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration and how the two processes are related.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will solve a mystery using laboratory tests for different types of macromolecules. They will use argumentation to justify and communicate their claim. They will construct explanations and communicate with one another to determine which macromolecule would be best to eat in different scenarios. Students will be able to identify the structure and functions of the four main types of macromolecules. The students will use laboratory testing to determine the identity of an unknown. They will fill in a chart about the structures, functions, and examples for each macromolecule type and then they will practice their knowledge by answering short response questions relating the macromolecules to the real world. Finally, they will review using a whole-class cooperative activity and take a quiz about the structures and functions of macromolecules.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will relate the role of ATP as an energy-carrying molecule to a wallet with money in it. This is a great lesson for visual and kinesthetic learners. This lesson involves hands on modeling, movement around the room, and conceptual learning.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on the role of enzymes as biological catalysts. The resource contains a lab that demonstrates enzyme reactions and a worksheet with activities for the students to select from.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will partake in an introduction of the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration and how they are interrelated. Within this lesson they will also receive data on how each of these processes relate to each each other in the real world. This lesson serves as a basic introduction to the standard.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will explore the different levels of protein structure with hands on manipulative to relate protein structures with their function. In addition, students will predict possible effects on protein function when the protein structure has been altered.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will analyze an athlete's diet to better understand the macromolecules needed for survival. Students will learn the primary function and structure of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins.

Type: Lesson Plan

The purpose of this lesson plan is to exercise students' knowledge of the structures and functions of the four major types of macromolecules by playing Macromolecular Go Fish, solving Macromolecular Math problems, and finally competing with one another in a macromolecule-style game of Names from a Hat.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan, students will analyze an intended to support reading in the content area. The article addresses the results of a new study that will help researchers identify which astronauts will develop vision problems in space. The text describes how Scott M. Smith from the Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center has found a metabolic pathway that is directly related to the vision problems some astronauts encounter. This pathway, called the one carbon metabolism pathway, moves single atoms from one organic compound to another. Astronauts who develop vision problems have been found to have a different genetic variant, which changes the way the enzymes of this pathway work. This will also affect people on Earth, as the same enzymes are also used here and are linked to other medical problems. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn the process of photosynthesis by designing an experiment to distinguish between the light and dark stages of photosynthesis.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will connect information learned about cellular respiration through a concept map using Post-It notes. This activity should be used as a review after learning the entire unit of cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will compete in a push challenge to feel the effects of lactic acid fermentation on their body. Data about pain levels will be collected and analyzed to pinpoint when their body shifted from aerobic to anaerobic cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will demonstrate the process of aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration and identify where it occurs within the cell. Students will review with a video, label a mitochondria, and create a eukaryotic cell tracing the path of cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an engaging lesson using probeware to look at photosynthesis and respiration with spinach leaves.

Type: Lesson Plan

This fun activity highlights the relationship of exercise to cellular respiration to gene energy.

Type: Lesson Plan

This follow-up activity lets student investigate cell respiration in the lab using yeast and Mantis probe-ware.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will design an experiment to measure the effect of various macromolecules on fermentation rates of yeast. Students will imagine, plan, and implement their designs in a collaborative manner and then will improve their experiment after the first results.

The ultimate goal is for students to be able to discuss the role of anaerobic respiration in living things and develop their scientific thinking skills as they solve a problem within a small group.

This is an inquiry-based lab that is to be facilitated by the teacher but will provide the students the opportunity to test and defend their own thinking as they design their experiment and analyze their results.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will sequence the steps of cellular respiration through a guided PowerPoint and WebQuest.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be introduced to both aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration through guided notes. They will practice what they learned through a guided practice and a handout, emphasizing the reactants and products of both types of cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will run a variety of tests on different liquids. During their experimentation, students will collect data, graph data, collaborate and discuss their findings, compare their findings to known characteristics of water, make a claim, provide evidence and justification to support their claim, and create an advisory report of their findings. Students will run various tests on several different liquids and compare those characteristic to those of water. Students will gain an understanding that water is unlike other liquids in the way that it moderates temperature, in its cohesive strength, in its ability to expand upon freezing, in its pH neutrality, and in its designation as the "universal solvent."

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will predict, investigate, observe, and report on the effects that pH, concentration, and temperature have on catalase enzyme reactions. Students will conduct an experiment in which they will alter the pH, concentration, and temperature of the environment in which catalase enzyme reactions are taking place. Students will be able to describe how changes in these environmental conditions affect the action of the enzymes in living things.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students work from lower to higher levels of scientific inquiry while studying enzyme kinetics in a practical, student-centered, flipped-classroom process. In addition to reviewing the importance of enzymes to biological systems and examining the factors that influence their activity, this is a good lesson to practice the scientific method, from replication of pre-designed experiments to asking questions, designing investigations, collecting and analyzing data, sharing findings, and engaging in peer review. Designed for higher-level classes, this lesson can be modified, simplified, or shortened for regular and honors classes.

Type: Lesson Plan

The structure of carbohydrates is an important concept for students to understand. This lesson will discuss the structure of carbohydrates and their function in living things. The focus of the activity will be on the structure of disaccharides and how the bonds are formed.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn how important enzymes are by functioning as a catalyst in most all biological processes. In learning about the functions of enzymes, they will also see how they are related to things they come across in everyday life. Students will observe the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide by catalase from potatoes.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson plan has been designed to help teachers instruct their students on the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The goal is for students to recognize the connection between the two. The resources in this lesson plan have been designed to help students investigate and deepen their knowledge on the concepts of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be able to explore the structure and function of carbohydrates by building structural models and creating an inquiry lab that explores the energy capacity of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson aims to assist students in making the connection between cell respiration, mitochondria, and ATP. Using guided inquiry and independent reading, students will be prepared to present a clinical case study on a mitochondrial myopathy to the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will describe the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration and explain how they work in tandem to convert sunlight into energy that cells can use.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the Predict, Observe, and Explain model, students will be able to identify the basic function of cellular respiration. Students will predict what is needed for yeast fermentation, why they do it and what gas is being released. With a teacher led debrief, students will then decide what factors allow fermentation to occur and finally explain why it's happening.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will explore aerobic and anaerobic respiration with a real world case of a 3-year-old boy who suffers from a mitochondrial disorder. Students will compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic respiration and relate it with the boy's symptoms.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity will model the oxidation of glucose to CO₂, H₂O, and generation of ATP using Lego building blocks. Groups of 4 students will draw pertinent cell structures and identify the locations of the steps of cellular respiration as the activity proceeds. Lego blocks will be assembled into molecules and disassembled as respiration proceeds.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will participate in a teacher-directed lesson on the structural differences of carbohydrates and their function in living things. Concept ideas will be organized with a graphic organizer that students will use in a group activity to create an original concept map demonstrating understanding of the topic. Student understanding will be assessed via a 2-3 paragraph summary.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will allow students to observe and identify evidence of an enzyme's activity, lactase, and its function, and action on a substrate found in milk, lactose. They will then relate the absence of lactase to the condition of lactose intolerance, which many students or family members of students experience. Enzymes are a type of protein essential to life and necessary for many of the metabolic reactions that occur in the human body. Since these reactions occur at the molecular level within the body, students do not directly observe enzymes functioning.

Type: Lesson Plan

The lesson is an activity introducing the versatility of water as a solvent. Students will initially predict the solubility of a substance by matching the substance with an appropriate solvent. Then the concepts involved in solubility, ionic compounds versus covalent compounds, and polar compounds versus non-polar compounds will be presented. Students will have an opportunity to present and discuss the reasoning behind making their selection of a solvent for a particular solute.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will demonstrate enzyme-substrate complex and how they work in a biochemical reaction. It will also introduce factors that effect the rate of enzyme activity. Students will be asked to model enzymes and how they work in a biochemical reaction by interacting with an egg as the reactant/substrate and producing a fried egg over easy. Students will be asked a series of questions along the way and later will work in small groups to come up with their own model of a short biochemical pathway (1-2 steps) and identify the enzymes involved in the process. The model or process they choose should come from their every day experiences.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches applied concepts associated with the four macromolecules: lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using sensor technology, the effect of living plants and animals on each other will be assayed to model the complementarity of the two metabolic processes.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will act out glucose metabolism - from the blood stream to cells where they will be converted to ATP, with help from insulin.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the process of protein synthesis, specifically transcription and translation, using a sequenced graphic organizer and an interactive simulation (Lesson 1 & 2).

This resource contains 3 lessons:

• Lesson 1: Transcription & Translation
• Lesson 2: Lac Operon
• Lesson 3: Proteins & Cancer
  
  

As an extension (Lesson 3) the students will justify the applications of biotechnology that uses transcription and translation to synthesize proteins that target cancer cells or reason the possibilities of the amplification of antibodies using immortal cells.

They will explore how mutations, genetic or epigenetic (lifestyle-chemicals, radiation, viruses), resulting in cancer.

The student will connect changes that occur in the genetic code, during transcription and translation, to the deleterious impact on proto oncogenes that promote cell division and tumor suppressor genes that normally inhibit it.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a lab activity resource to accompany learning of photosynthesis and the Calvin cycle. Students are able to measure change in water conditions and gaseous production associated with autotrophs.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will be learning to recognize and compare and contrast the four different organic macromolecules. This lesson will require the viewing of a 7 minute video and will require 4 large groups of six students to work cooperatively together in a team effort to complete an organic macromolecule chart.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will create a closed system and investigate the effects of organisms on the pH of the closed system to examine the interrelated nature of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will complete an experimental lab setup using snails and elodea in test tubes placed in light and dark conditions to test the outcomes.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students design an experiment to determine the effects of pH and temperature on enzyme activity in apples.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson plan explains anaerobic respiration and its role in human society. It is designed for two class periods, each 50 minutes in length, and one take home activity. Students are going to compare and contrast the physiology of two types of anaerobic respiration and identify different microorganisms that are used in the modern food industry. The teacher explains and presents the content and the procedures on the first day as a lesson walk through. There is an optional activity (yogurt making and bacterial smear) that can easily be performed in the classroom. It is highly recommended that Honors and AP students should be given the optional activity provided with this lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

This diabetes MEA provides students with the opportunity to investigate finding affordable health coverage, a problem common to many people living with diabetes. Students must rank doctors based on certain costs and the specific services they provide. The main focus of this MEA is to determine the best doctors to go to for diabetic care and treatment, weighing factors such as insurance, cost, doctor visits, location, patient ratings, number of years in business, diet, exercise, weight management, stress management, network participation, and support groups.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students will be introduced to the four biological macromolecules through common snack foods found in vending machines. They will act as dietitians selecting and ranking snack foods based on given their nutrition labels and knowledge of the structure and function of the four biological macromolecules.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students use their knowledge of organic compounds to solve a simulated mystery (Who took Jerell's iPod) by testing for triglycerides, glucose, starch, and protein. This lab deepens student understanding of biological functions and food sources of various organic compounds.

Type: Lesson Plan

The importance of knowing what drinking water contains. How to know what properties are present in different bottled water. Knowing the elements present in water that is advantageous to growth and development of many things in the body. To know what to be alert for in water and to understand the importance of water in general.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will complete a lab using indicators to determine which foods contain carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and/or starches. The lab includes pre-lab questions, discussion, lab experimentation, post lab questions, results and conclusion. The students will submit a completed lab report that will be graded based on a rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this lesson is that students will be able to conduct mini-experiments that demonstrate how water behaves. Students will perform the experiment, collect the data, diagram results, and generate a definition of the seven properties of water.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Corn Conundrum MEA provides students with an agricultural problem in which they must work as a team to develop a procedure to select the best variety of corn to grow under drier conditions predicted by models of global climate change. Students must determine the most important factors that make planting crops sustainable in restricted climate conditions for the client. The main focus of this MEA is manipulating factors relating to plant biology, including transpiration and photosynthesis.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this lesson is to introduce students who are interested in human biology and biochemistry to the subtleties of energy metabolism (typically not presented in standard biology and biochemistry textbooks) through the lens of ATP as the primary energy currency of the cell. Avoiding the details of the major pathways of energy production (such as glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation), this lesson is focused exclusively on ATP, which is truly the fuel of life. Starting with the discovery and history of ATP, this lesson will walk the students through 8 segments (outlined below) interspersed by 7 in-class challenge questions and activities, to the final step of ATP production by the ATP synthase, an amazing molecular machine. A basic understanding of the components and subcellular organization (e.g. organelles, membranes, etc.) and chemical foundation (e.g. biomolecules, chemical equilibrium, biochemical energetics, etc.) of a eukaryotic cell is a desired prerequisite, but it is not a must. Through interactive in-class activities, this lesson is designed to spark the students' interest in biochemistry and human biology as a whole, but could serve as an introductory lesson to teaching advanced concepts of metabolism and bioenergetics in high school depending on the local science curriculum. No supplies or materials are needed.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students learn about enzyme function, enzyme specificity, and the molecular basis for lactose intolerance.

Type: Lesson Plan

The story of the role of chemiosmosis in ATP synthese is told through the animation of hydrogen ions in the last steps of cellular respiration.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about the basic molecular structures and primary functions of carbohydrates with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 2 in a five-part series. Click below to explore other tutorials in the series.

• The Macromolecules of Life: Lipids
• The Macromolecules of Life: Proteins
• The Macromolecules of Life: Nucleic Acids

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about the basic molecular structures and primary functions of lipids with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 3 in a five-part series. Click below to explore other tutorials in the series.

• The Macromolecules of Life: Carbohydrates
• The Macromolecules of Life: Proteins
• The Macromolecules of Life: Nucleic Acids

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore the mystery of muscle cell metabolism and how cells are able to meet the need for a constant supply of energy. In this interactive tutorial, you'll identify the basic structure of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), explain how ATP’s structure is related it its job in the cell, and connect this role to energy transfers in living things.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

At any instant in your life, millions and millions of enzymes are hard at work in your body as well as all around you making your life easier!

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to describe how enzymes speed up most biochemical reactions as well as identify the various factors that affect enzyme activity like pH and temperature.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about the basic molecular structures and primary functions of proteins with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 4 in a five-part series. Click below to explore other tutorials in the series.

• The Macromolecules of Life: Carbohydrates
• The Macromolecules of Life: Lipids
• The Macromolecules of Life: Nucleic Acids

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore how organisms gain usable energy and compare the two types of cellular respiration; aerobic and anaerobic. In this interactive tutorial, you'll also learn about reactants and products of both aerobic and anaerobic respiration.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Explore how cells use ATP as an energy source for cellular activities in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify and describe the structural and functional features of nucleic acids, one of the 4 primary macromolecule groups in biological systems, with this interactive tutorial.

This is Part 3 in 5-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series:

• Macromolecules: Carbohydrates
• Macromolecules: Nucleic Acids
• Macromolecules: Lipids
• Macromolecules: Proteins

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify the four basic biological macromolecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids) by structure and function with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 1 in a five-part series. Click below to explore other tutorials in the series.

• The Macromolecules of Life: Lipids
• The Macromolecules of Life: Proteins
• The Macromolecules of Life: Nucleic Acids

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how the chemical properties of water relate to its physical properties and make it essential for life with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn how to identify and describe the role of all of the major molecules needed for photosynthesis. You'll also be able to explain the role that photosynthesis plays in capturing carbon from the atmosphere to produce sugars.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn more about photosynthesis and cellular respiration. In this interactive tutorial, you will gain awareness of the connections between these two very important processes with regard to energy and carbon.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

It's not a secret - exercise and weight control key to a healthy metabolism!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Patrick Milligan shares his research on invasive ant species in the Kenyan savannah.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

In this video, neuroscientist Liz Hammock explains the role of proteins in the body using the hormone oxytocin as an example.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Learn how enzymes play a key role in regulation of cellular energy and metabolism.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

This FSU professor describes how knot theory and cellular biology are intertwined. Researchers are still trying to determine how enzyme bridges are able to un-knot long strands of DNA to mitigate potential cell destruction.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Don't get twisted in a knot about proteins; learn about their structure!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

A NASA botanist explains how studying photosynthesis now can help feed astronauts in the future.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Hydrogeologist from Nestle Waters discusses the importance of statistical tests in monitoring sustainability and in maintaining consistent water quality in bottled water.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Oxygenate your cells through physical activity.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Oil paints certainly left their mark on history and are widely used in art today! Produced with funding from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Understanding the science behind oil painting can help you become a better artist! Produced with funding from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Get organized with charts to help you understand major biochemical processes!

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

Learn about macromolecules with this tabletop exercise.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

This presentation, a narrated PowerPoint, provides detailed information regarding photosynthesis and cellular respiration. It is provided by a teacher for his students, but is well-done and engaging enough to be useful for other students.

Type: Presentation/Slideshow

The Online Macromolecular Museum (OMM) is a site for the display and study of macromolecules. Macromolecular structures, as discovered by crystallographic or NMR methods, are scientific objects in much the same sense as fossil bones or dried specimens: they can be archived, studied, and displayed in aesthetically pleasing, educational exhibits. Hence, a museum seems an appropriate designation for the collection of displays that we are assembling. The OMM's exhibits are interactive tutorials on individual molecules in which hypertextual explanations of important biochemical features are linked to illustrative renderings of the molecule at hand.

Type: Resource Collection

In a "Murder Mystery" scenario, students will use their knowledge of the structure and properties of macromolecules to conduct a forensic investigation.

Type: Teaching Idea

This resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes how a genetic variation in enzymes associated with the one carbon metabolic pathway can cause vision problems in astronauts. The research may lead scientists to predict which astronauts will develop vision problems, as well as develop new treatments for existing medical problems on Earth.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Geologists have made an important discovery about the origins of photosynthesis. According to evidence in South African rocks, before organisms were using water as the electron source for photosynthesis, they were using manganese - these rocks formed in anoxic conditions, but contain oxidized manganese. This evolution of photosynthetic organisms, which released atmospheric oxygen, laid the groundwork for more complex life forms, such as animals, to come into existence.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The ribosome, the site of protein synthesis, is the focus of this article. The text describes how a problem-some antibiotics are targeting the ribosomes of both harmful and beneficial bacteria-is being solved by studying the movement of ribosomes during translation.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article by NASA explains the physical reasons why the shape of a raindrop is more bun-shaped than tear-shaped.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article explains why water is so essential and the properties of water that make it critical for life on Earth.

Type: Text Resource

This tutorial is a step by step explanation of what occurs in photosynthesis during the Calvin Cycle. It describes and uses visuals for the chemical reactions in this biochemical pathway. This challenging tutorial addresses the standard at a high level of complexity.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial shows and describes what occurs during the light reactions of photosynthesis which is the first stage of photosynthesis when plants capture and store energy from sunlight. In this process, light energy is converted into chemical energy, in the form of the energy-carrying molecules ATP and NADPH.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video explains how oxidation and reduction reactions occur in cellular respiration. The chemical equation for cellular respiration is examined and broken down to show where each type of the reactions occur.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video explains how CAM plants fix carbon dioxide at night so they do not lose water by opening their stomata during the day.

Type: Tutorial

The Khan Academy video discusses how some plants avoid photorespiration by fixing carbon in the bundle sheath cells instead of the mesophylll cells.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video reviews the Calvin Cycle in C3 photosynthesis and discusses the reactants and products of this process. The video then describes photorespiration which is what occurs when the enzyme RuBisCO fixes oxygen instead of carbon dioxide and explains why this is considered an inefficient pathway for plants.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video describes the structure of the molecule DNA in great detail. It also discuses the role DNA plays in the process of protein synthesis, explaining transcription and translation. The video discusses the relationship between DNA and chromosomes as well.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video explains how ATP is generated in the electron transport chain through the process of oxidative phosphorylation and chemiosmosis. It also explains the differences between oxidative phosphorylation and substrate level phosphorylation.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video explains how the NADH And FADH2 that were made during glycolysis and the Kreb's Cycle are used to generate ATP through the electron transport chain.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy tutorial describes in detail the process of glucose being broken down into pyruvate during glycolysis. Glycolysis is the first biochemical pathway of cellular respiration.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video describes how the pyruvate produced in glycolysis undergoes oxidation to produce Acetyl CoA. The video then explains what occurs when Acetyl CoA enters the Kreb's cycle and how NADH and FADH2 are produced.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy tutorial explains in detail the process of the light reactions of photosynthesis including the importance of the thylakoid membrane and the products that are produced from this reaction.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy tutorial explains how the by-products from the light reactions of photosynthesis are used to produce sugar molecules in the Calvin Cycle.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video explains how the molecule ATP stores the energy needed for biological systems within organisms.

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy video describes how energy is extracted from the glucose molecule to make ATP. Each biochemical pathway involved in cellular respiration is discussed.

Type: Tutorial

This animation shows the process of glycolysis. The reactants, products, and the basic functions of aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration are identified.

Type: Tutorial

Photosynthesis is often described as the reverse of cellular respiration. Respiration breaks down complex molecules to release energy that is used to make ATP. Photosynthesis takes energy from photons and uses it to build complex molecules. However both systems use an electron transport chain and associated proton pump and ATP synthase as a key part of the process. This tutorial will help you to understand the electron transport chain and ATP synthesis.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial will help you to understand the role that vitamins play in human nutrition. Vitamins interact with enzymes to allow them to function more effectively. Though vitamins are not consumed in metabolism, they are vital for the process of metabolism to occur.

This challenging tutorial addresses the concept at a high level of complexity.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial reviews the process of cellular respiration which is the set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Type: Tutorial

Photosynthesis is an essential part of the exchange between humans and plants. Amanda Ooten walks us through the process of photosynthesis, also discussing the relationship between photosynthesis and carbohydrates, starch, and fiber -- and how the air we breathe is related to the food we ingest.

Type: Tutorial

Water is both essential and unique. Many of its particular qualities stem from the fact that it consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, therefore creating an unequal sharing of electrons. From fish in frozen lakes to ice floating on water, Christina Kleinberg describes the effects of polarity.

Type: Tutorial

A hearty bowl of cereal gives you the energy to start your day, but how exactly did that energy make its way into your bowl? It all begins with photosynthesis, the process that converts the air we breathe into energizing glucose. Cathy Symington details the highly efficient second phase of photosynthesis -- called the Calvin cycle -- which converts carbon dioxide into sugar with some clever mix-and-match math.

Type: Tutorial

Chemical reactions are constantly happening in your body -- even at this very moment. But what catalyzes these important reactions? This short video explains how enzymes assist the process, while providing a light-hearted way to remember how activation energy works.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial will help the learners with their understanding of chemical structure of DNA.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial will help the learners understand glycolysis, which is the process of enzymes breaking down glucose to release energy.

Type: Tutorial

The Krebs cycle is the central metabolic pathway in all aerobic organisms. This tutorial will help the learners understand the Krebs cycle.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial will help the learners to review the formation and 3D structures of amino acids with proteins.

Type: Tutorial

This video shows an enzyme reaction lab. The teacher demonstrates how the enzyme, catalase, reacts with hydrogen peroxide (a substrate found in cells). The teacher first demonstrates a normal enzyme reaction. He or she then goes on to show how manipulating temperature and pH will affect the reaction of an enzyme.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This video resource was produced by Paul Andersen, a high school science teacher in Bozeman, Montana. He begins by explaining the structure and purpose of carbohydrates. He then describes and gives examples of monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharide and polysaccharides, and explains how they grow through dehydration reactions and shrink through hydrolysis.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

• Observe the photosynthesis mechanism in the plant
• Learn about the main chemical reactions that takes place during photosynthesis
• Learn how solar energy is converted into chemical energy

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

A collection of questions that tests students' knowledge about protein structures and their functions

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Paul Anderson explains the structure and importance of proteins. He describes how proteins are created from amino acids connected by dehydration synthesis. He shows the importance of chemical properties in the R-groups of individual amino acids in the polypeptide.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Paul Anderson describes the four major biological molecules found in living things. He begins with a brief discussion of polymerization. Dehydration synthesis is used to connect monomers into polymers and hydrolysis breaks them down again. The major characteristics of nucleic acids are described as well as there directionality from 3' to 5' end.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Paul Anderson begins with a brief description of NASA discoveries related to Mars, Mercury and water. He then explains why water is required for life. He finally uses a simulation to show you why water acts as a wonderful solvent and provides a medium for metabolism.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Mr. Andersen explains why water is a polar molecule. He also explains why this gives water properties like cohesion, high specific heat, less dense ice, and the ability to act as a solvent. All of these properties are due to hydrogen bonding.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

The topic of photosynthesis is a fundamental concept in biology, chemistry, and earth science. Educational studies have found that despite classroom presentations, most students retain their naïve idea that a plant's mass is mostly derived from the soil, and not from the air. To call students' attention to this misconception, at the beginning of this lesson we will provide a surprising experimental result so that students will confront their mental mistake. Next, we will help students better envision photosynthesis by modeling where the atoms come from in this important process that produces food for the planet. This lesson can be completed in 50-60 minutes, with the students working on in-class activities during 20-25 minutes of the lesson. As a prerequisite, students need an introductory lesson on photosynthesis, something that includes the overall chemical equation. If students have already studied the intracellular photosynthetic process in detail, this video can still be very helpful because students often miss the big picture about photosynthesis. Materials needed include red, white and black LEGO bricks (described in downloadable hand-out) or strips of red, white and black paper plus paper clips (directions provided in downloadable hand-out). In addition to class discussions, the major in-class activity of this video involves the students' modeling with LEGO® bricks or colored paper where the atoms come from in photosynthesis.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

These animations show cell respiration as a big picture, and then go through the steps of cellular respiration: glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and electron transport. Each animation is short and to the point.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Paul Anderson describes the lipids (of the fats). He explains how they are an important source of energy but are also required to cell membranes. He explains how the hydrocarbon tails in triglycerides contain energy available for life. He also explains how phospholipids construct, and cholesterol molecules main the cell membrane.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This Protein Purification video lesson is intended to give students some insight into the process and tools that scientists and engineers use to explore proteins. It is designed to extend the knowledge of students who are already somewhat sophisticated and who have a good understanding of basic biology. The question that motivates this lesson is, "what makes two cell types different?" and this question is posed in several ways. Such scientific reasoning raises the experimental question: how could you study just a subset of specialized proteins that distinguish one cell type from another? Two techniques useful in this regard are considered in the lesson. This video lesson will easily fit into a 50-minute class period, and prerequisites include a good understanding of cellular components (DNA vs. Protein vs. lipid) and some understanding of the physical features of proteins (charge, size etc). The simple cell model used here can be assembled in any kind of container and with any components of different solubility, density, charge etc. In-class activities during the video breaks include discussions, careful observations, and the use of a "very simple cell" model to explore two techniques of protein purification. Students and teachers can spend additional time discussing and exploring the question of "how we know what we know" since this lesson lends itself to the teaching of the process of science as well.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video provides an overview of photosynthesis.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This site has fantastic short Flash animations of intricate cell processes, including photosynthesis and the electron transport chain.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This video gives more detail on the light reaction and photophosphorylation that occur in photosynthesis.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

This virtual manipulative will help the students learn about enzyme-substrate docking. Students will observe that the shapes of these surfaces and electrostatic forces are the major factors that govern docking.

Type: Virtual Manipulative

A Java Program that allows the students to explore the macromolecules via closer looks at different organisms. After exploring the macromolecules there are questions they can answer about the individual macromolecules and summary questions. The students can also print a report of their answers for the teacher.

Type: Virtual Manipulative