Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
Ohio Standards
Connection:
Life Sciences
Benchmark D
Explain the flow of energy
and the cycling of matter
through biological and
ecological systems
(cellular, organismal and
ecological).
Indicator 10
Describe how cells and
organisms acquire and
release energy
(photosynthesis,
chemosynthesis, cellular
respiration and
fermentation).
Indicator 11
Explain that living
organisms use matter and
energy to synthesize a
variety of organic
molecules (e.g., proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids and
nucleic acids) and to drive
life processes (e.g., growth,
reacting to the
environment, reproduction
and movement).
Lesson Summary:
The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand
how cells and organisms acquire and release energy
through photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Students
will explain that living organisms use matter and energy to
synthesize a variety of organic molecules and they will
model this through a play. The teacher will be the narrator
and the students will explore the steps of energy acquisition
and use. Students will then construct concept maps to model
the relationships of matter, energy and metabolism.
Estimated Duration: Three hours
Commentary:
This lesson uses a play to help students understand cellular
processes. Acting as various molecules and processes helps
students internalize the information. The use of a play also
helps stimulate verbal, visual and kinesthetically oriented
students. Students will formulate and practice their schemas
using concept maps to help drive the retention of concepts
into long-term memory.
Pre-Assessment:
Have students answer the following questions:
 Name two ways that cells and organisms acquire energy;
 Name two ways that cells and organisms release energy;
 Name two types of organic molecules that living;
organisms can synthesize;
 Name two life processes of organisms that require energy.
Scoring Guidelines:
Use the following information to assess student answers in the
pre-assessment. This list of responses is not exhaustive. It
may be extended with additional examples.
 Ways that cells and organisms acquire energy may include
photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Students may also
provide answers such as eating or drinking. Although
these are correct, they indicate that students are not
considering the question at the cellular level.
 Two ways that cells and organisms can release energy
may include cellular respiration, metabolism and
fermentation. Students also may provide answers such as
exercise or sweating. Although these answers are correct,
they indicate that students are not considering the question
at the cellular level.
1
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten


Examples of organic molecules that organisms can synthesize may include proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids or nucleic acids.
Life processes of organisms that require energy may include growth, reproduction,
reacting to the environment or movement.
Post-Assessment:
Have students complete Attachment A, Post-Assessment Questions.
Scoring Guidelines:
See Attachment B, Post-Assessment Answers.
Instructional Procedures:
1. Make placards for the play prior to this lesson. These placards will be used by students
to identify their roles in the play. Color code the placards to correspond to each of the
four categories shown below, writing one of the bulleted items on each placard:
Category One: Energy
 Sunlight
 Adenosine Diphosphate: ADP
 Phosphate Group: P
Category Two: Organisms
 Plant
 Animal
Category Three: Molecules
 O2: Oxygen (make six of these)
 C: Carbon (make six of these)
Category Four: End Products
 Organic molecules: protein, lipid, nucleic acid, carbohydrate
 Life processes: growth, reproduction, movement.
Instructional Tip:
Teacher may use 8 ½ by 11 color-coded card stock to make placards. Card stock is stiffer and
easier to read. Also, placards can be laminated for future use. Carbon framework drawings
representing the four organic molecules should be on the reverse of the organic molecules
card. The life processes card should have the terms "growth," "reproduction" and
"movement" on the reverse side.
2.
Use green tape or string to partition off a part of the front of the room. Then use brown
tape or string to partition off an adjacent section of the room. These two areas will serve
as a green plant cell and a brown animal cell during the play. You may have students
help you with this, or you can partition the room before class.
3. Ask students;
 "How is energy from the sun used to fuel green plants?"
 "How do you use food to run your body?"
4. Tell students that today they will learn how organisms use energy and matter to drive
their internal systems.
2
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
5. Hand out copies of Attachment C, Script. This is a script for a play about the interactions
of molecules and energy inside of plants and animals. Tell the students that this topic is
difficult to conceptualize, so the students will act out these cycles.
6. Have students choose to play characters listed on the script. If you have extra students,
they can choose to play ADP or Phosphate, since these characters will occur more than
once in the play. Hand out the placards to the appropriate characters.
7. Hand out placards to students and carry out the play, assuming the role of the narrator.
Props, such as a video camera and a soundtrack could add the effect of a documentary.
Instructional Tip:
You may choose to act out the play more than once, changing student roles, so that students
understand each process.
8. After the play, have students use the Think, Pair, Share strategy to produce a concept map
using the terms from the placards.
a. List the terms on the board for the students.
b. Make sure that students work alone, forcing them to express the linkages that they
think exist between the terms.
c. Then, have students share their concept maps with partners, having them revise their
own concept maps if needed.
d. Finally, have students share in class. Have students direct your drawing of a concept
map on the board. Students will examine their own ideas about map linkages as they
hear and see each other's directions.
9. Proceed to the post-assessment.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs, to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
 Have students working beyond the indicator pair with students who are working toward
the indicator, to help them create another skit, poem, story or song to explain this
material.
 Have students working beyond the indicator use the placards from the play to create their
own skits.
Extensions:
 Have students explore other metabolic pathways including fermentation and how they
would link to their concept maps.
 Have students explore how some organisms use sulfur-based molecules instead of
carbon-based molecules for energy sources, and the implications for the energy cycles.
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
3
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher:
Card stock, string or yarn, colored markers, colored tape.
For the students:
Placards, script.
Vocabulary:
 energy
 photosynthesis
 cellular respiration
 fermentation
 organic molecules
 synthesis
 proteins
 carbohydrates
 lipids
 nucleic acids
 ATP
 ADP
 phosphate
Technology Connections:
 Have students use video cameras to record the play.
 Have students use computers to work on concept maps.
Research Connections:
Marzano, R., Pickering, D., Pollock, J. (2001).Classroom Instruction that Works: ResearchBased Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, Alexandria, Va.,: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Nonlinguistic representations help students think about and recall knowledge. They
include the following:
 Creating graphic representations (organizers);
 Making physical models;
 Generating mental pictures;
 Drawing pictures and pictographs;
 Engaging in kinesthetic activity.
Attachments:
Attachment A, Post-Assessment Questions
Attachment B, Post-Assessment Answers
Attachment C, Script
4
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
Attachment A
Post-Assessment Questions
Name: ________________________________
In the space below, draw your concept map for photosynthesis and your concept map for
cellular respiration in animals. Then, use these maps to answer the questions that follow.
1.
Describe how the two concept maps should be linked together.
2.
What do plant photosynthesis and animal cellular respiration have in common?
5
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
3.
Animals that are growing require more energy than animals that are not growing.
a. Where does the energy needed for animal growth originally come from?
b.
How can an animal get more energy?
c.
What activities of an animal, other than growth, will require a greater input of
energy?
4.
Our play showed the production and fate of glucose, a kind of carbohydrate. What are
the other kinds of organic molecules that are important in these cycles?
5.
When an animal dies, what do you think happens to its organic molecules? Are they ever
used again in the cycles? If so, how and where do they enter the cycles?
6.
If the sun was blocked by clouds or smoke for an extended period of time, explain what
effect this would have on plants and animals.
7.
Why do plants need to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen?
6
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
Attachment B
Post-Assessment Answers
The following are suggested answers for the Post-Assessment. Student responses may vary.
In the space below, draw your concept map for photosynthesis and your concept map for
cellular respiration in animals. Then use these maps to answer the questions that follow.
1.
Describe how the two concept maps should be linked together.
Glucose from the plant cell is used to fuel the animal cell.
Students also may write that oxygen from the plant cell is used in reactions inside of the
animal cell, although this was not covered in the lesson.
2.
What do plant photosynthesis and animal cellular respiration have in common?
Both of them use ADP and Phosphate group to carry energy. They both involve glucose
as an energy storage molecule.
3.
Animals that are growing require more energy than animals that are not growing.
a. Where does the energy needed for animal growth originally come from?
Energy originally comes from the sun.
7
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
b.
How can an animal get more energy?
Animals can ingest and use more food, such as glucose.
c.
What activities of an animal, other than growth, will require a greater input of
energy?
Animals will need energy for movement and reproduction.
4.
Our play showed the production and fate of glucose, a kind of carbohydrate. What are
the other kinds of organic molecules that are important in these cycles?
In addition to carbohydrates, cells produce and use lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
5.
When an animal dies, what do you think happens to its organic molecules? Are they ever
used again in the cycles? If so, how and where do they enter the cycles?
Organic molecules must re-enter the cycle at some point. The molecules may be broken
down by decay, and then absorbed by plants, re-entering the cycle as organic molecules.
Organisms that promote decay may ingest the molecules so that they are used in more
rounds of cellular respiration.
6.
If the sun was blocked by clouds or smoke for an extended period of time, explain what
effect this would have on plants and animals.
Because all energy in our model originates with the sun, the cycles would eventually
cease in the sun's absence. Plants and animals would die.
7.
Why do plants need to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen?
The carbon from carbon dioxide is used to make sugars such as glucose. The oxygen is
released from the reaction.
8
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
Attachment C
Script
The Players:
 Sunlight
 Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP)
 Phosphate Group (P)
 Plant
 Animal
 Molecules (Six)
 Organic Molecules
 Life Processes
 Stagehand
Placards that players will wear:
 Sunlight
 Adenosine Diphosphate: ADP
 Phosphate Group: P
 Plant
 Animal
 O2: Oxygen (Make six of these. They will be worn by MOLECULES )
 C: Carbon (make six of these. They will be worn by MOLECULES)
 Organic molecules: protein, lipid, nucleic acid, carbohydrate
 Life processes: growth, reproduction, movement.
Props:
Two areas will be marked off on the floor using colored tape or string. One will represent a
plant cell and the other will represent an animal cell.
Act I - Photosynthesis
PLANT squats or sits on the stage beside the plant cell.
NARRATOR: Plants acquire energy from the sun. Here we see a plant and a microscope
view of a cell from the plant.
PLANT bows and acknowledges its cell.
ADENOSINE DIPHOSPHATE and PHOSPHATE enter and mill about inside of the cell
(marked on the floor).
NARRATOR: Plants use energy from the sun to make chemical bonds in the molecule ATP,
adenosine triphosphate. The energy is stored in the chemical bond between ADP,
adenosine diphosphate, and a phosphate group.
SUNLIGHT runs into the cell and joins hands of ADENOSINE DIPHOSPHATE and
PHOSPHATE.
9
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
SUNLIGHT exits the cell and runs off of the stage.
NARRATOR: The trapping of energy in the ATP bond is an exergonic reaction, meaning
that it is spontaneous, requiring no further input of energy.
NARRATOR: The ATP can then be used in an endergonic reaction to make a sugar molecule
from the carbon dioxide that plants "breathe" in.
Six CO2 molecules enter the plant cell. They are each wearing an oxygen (O2) placard and a
Carbon (C) placard.
ADP and PHOSPHATE join the hands of the six CO2 molecules so they form a circle.
ADP and PHOSPHATE let go of each others hands and mill about in the plant cell.
CO2: We are glucose!
NARRATOR: Glucose is a six carbon sugar that stores energy in the bonds that hold carbon
atoms together. This reaction uses carbon dioxide and releases oxygen from the cell.
STAGEHAND takes the O2 placards from the glucose molecule and exits the cell.
NARRATOR: ADP and PHOSPHATE are now ready to capture more energy from the sun.
Act II - Cellular Respiration in Plants
NARRATOR: All plants use the energy stored in glucose to drive their life processes.
Getting the energy out of the glucose is a process called cellular respiration.
ORGANIC MOLECULES and LIFE PROCESSES enter the plant cell.
CARBON MOLECULES that are arranged in a glucose ring turn into a chain. The first
Carbon molecule in the chain hands his/her Carbon placard to ADP and PHOSPHATE.
ADP and Phosphate join hands and the person that was holding the carbon placard exits the
cell.
ADP and PHOSPHATE hand the placard to either ORGANIC MOLECULES or LIFE
PROCESSES. They let go of each others hands when they pass the placard off.
NARRATOR: ADP and Phosphate are transferring energy from the glucose molecule to
LIFE PROCESSES such as growth, reproduction, and movement, and to ORGANIC
MOLECULES such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids.
10
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES each flip over their placards to reveal the
words and drawings on the other side.
ADP and PHOSPHATE continue to take placards, one at a time from the former glucose
molecule, and transfer them to LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES.
PLANT slowly stands up and spreads arms (grows) during the transfer of energy and carbon
from glucose to LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES.
LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES stay in the cell while all other characters
Leave the plant cell. PLANT remains standing on stage, with arms outspread.
Act III - Cellular Respiration in Animals
Six CARBONS have their carbon placards back on, and are arranged in a circular glucose
molecule, joining LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES inside of the plant cell.
NARRATOR: Animals must derive all of their energy from plants, either by directly eating
plants or by eating animals that have previously eaten plants.
ANIMAL enters the stage, either crawling on hands and knees or waddling in a squatting
position.
ANIMAL approaches plant and takes a (pretend) bite out of the plant.
PLANT and LIFE PROCESSES fall to the ground dead.
NARRATOR: Plant matter is digested and molecules including carbohydrates, lipids,
proteins and nucleic acids, are transferred to the cells of animals that eat them.
ORGANIC MOLECULES and the six CARBONS arranged in a glucose ring all move to the
animal cell.
NARRATOR: All animals use organic molecules from plants to drive their life processes and
build additional organic molecules. Getting the energy out of these molecules, in this
case glucose, is a process called cellular respiration.
ORGANIC MOLECULES, LIFE PROCESSES, ADP and PHOSPHATE enter the plant cell.
CARBON arranged in a glucose ring turns into a chain. The first Carbon molecule in the
chain hands his/her Carbon placard to ADP and PHOSPHATE. ADP and PHOSPHATE join
hands and the person that was holding the carbon placard exits the cell.
11
Energy Extravaganza – Grade Ten
ADP and PHOSPHATE hand the placard to either ORGANIC MOLECULES or LIFE
PROCESSES. They let go of each others hands when they pass the placard off.
NARRATOR: ADP and Phosphate are transferring energy from the glucose molecule to
LIFE PROCESSES such as growth, reproduction, and movement, and to ORGANIC
MOLECULES such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids.
LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES each display the sides of their placards
that have drawings of organic molecules and names of life processes.
ADP and PHOSPHATE continue to take placards, one at a time from the former glucose.
Molecule, and transfer them to LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES.
ANIMAL slowly stands up (grows) during the transfer of energy and carbon from glucose to
LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES.
LIFE PROCESSES and ORGANIC MOLECULES stay in the cell while all other characters
leave the plant cell. ANIMAL remains standing on stage.
NARRATOR: Thus animals grow, reproduce and move using the energy and materials
derived from plants.
12