Digital Unit Plan – Goals, Objectives and Assessments

Unit Title: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Name: Jenn McGervey

Content Area: Biology Grade Level: 9-10

Next Generation Science Standards/Performance Expectations

HS-LS1-5. Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy.

LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

The process of photosynthesis converts light energy to stored chemical energy by converting carbon dioxide plus water into sugars plus released oxygen.

HS-LS1-6. Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other
elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules.

LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

The sugar molecules thus formed contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen: their hydrocarbon 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.

As matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of living systems, chemical elements are recombined in different ways to form different
products.

HS-LS1-7. Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken
and the bonds in new compounds are formed, resulting in a net transfer of energy.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

As matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of living systems, chemical elements are recombined in different ways to form different
products.

As a result of these chemical reactions, energy is transferred from one system of interacting molecules to another. Cellular respiration is a chemical process in
which the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and new compounds are formed that can transport energy to muscles. Cellular respiration
also releases the energy needed to maintain body temperature despite ongoing energy transfer to the surrounding environment.

HS-LS2-5 Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and geosphere.

LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems

Photosynthesis and cellular respiration (including anaerobic processes) provide most of the energy for life processes.

Anchoring Activity

You are an ecologist working at Sequoia National Park for the National Forest Service which has just experienced a fire. You’ve been assigned to monitor one of
the burn areas in the park for regrowth and vegetation. After weeks of monitoring and gathering evidence, you will propose a plan to encourage the regrowth
and restoration of the natural ecology of the burn site. [alternate wordings maybe in the succession of the burn site. ]

Driving Question of the Unit

How can fire devastation lead to regrowth of plants from seedling to a tree like General Sherman?

Unit Goals---Describe what you want students to be able to do. For example, I wanted my students to be able to know when to use the epistemic practices when I
gave them verbal or visual cues. Students will need to be able to recognize science even if it is not in the verbal form. See the article “Outside the Pipeline:
Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists.” A summary of the article is in the appendix of this unit plan template.

I want to create a space for students to feel comfortable discussing science based theories. In addition, I want students with remaining questions after scientific
discourse to conduct an investigation to answer their own questions. Using the data gathered from experiments and other reliable sources they will be to
provide ample evidence to support their claims. I want them to be able to support a claim and understand the concept behind supporting evidence and how to
obtain supporting evidence. Students will be able to make insightful observations about patterns and apply these to content they know. Students will engage in
meaningful peer review of models with their classmates, giving and receiving constructive criticism, and implementing it into their revisions of their model.
Most importantly, I want students to be able to apply the concepts learned in science to their lives outside of the classroom.

Lesson 1 – [Introduction to Energy]

Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

● Students will demonstrate their initial This assessment will be based on class discussion and class participation.
thoughts on where General Sherman gets Students will engage in discussion about what requires energy. This will allow students to draw on
its mass by drawing an initial model and prior knowledge.
discussing aspects of their model with
peers.
Students will be pressed for initial pre-conceptions and observations on the phenomena by drawing
● Students will gather information on how their initial model to the lesson level phenomena
energy is transformed in photosynthesis by
performing an elodea experiment and
observing sap extraction and the processing There will be a peer review of student’s models during a gallery walk. Models will be given a rubric
of maple syrup videos. that the students need to follow and will be graded on their ability to display the process of
photosynthesis. incorporating the production of oxygen and glucose.
● Students will add information gathered to
their model illustrating new findings on the
energy transformation that occurs in
 photosynthesis and participate in peer
reviewing the models of their classmates.
Lesson 2 – [Photosynthesis]

Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

● Students will gather information about how A quick write will be given at the beginning of this lesson to assess student knowledge of how plants
plants absorb and transport nutrients by absorb the components needed to photosynthesize.
performing a student inquiry lab on plant
absorption.

● Students will use prior knowledge and analyze After initial introduction, Students will start to design a lab where they can measure how fast and
data gathered about how plants absorb light from where a plant absorbs water. They will need to create a driving question for the lab inquiry
energy and convert it into glucose by along with a list of procedural steps. The students will be assessed on their understanding of
performing a light/dark plant experiment. experimental inquiry and procedure.

● Students will create a lab report with the

findings of how water and light energy is
absorbed and converted into chemical energy. The students will then explore how light and dark environments affect plants and photosynthesis
through experimentation.
● Students will revise their illustrated model to
represent how plants absorb the components
used in photosynthesis and continue to add
Students will analyze data and respond to prompts when making connections between components
information to how energy is transformed.
from plant absorption and the process of photosynthesis. This will be developed into a lab report
which will be used as a summative assessment of this lesson.

In conclusion, Students will revise their unit models to incorporate the new information gathered
about how plants absorb components needed for photosynthesis.

Lesson 3 – [Vegetable Oil Combustion]

Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

 ● Using the class consensus models and their Students will write down in their student notebooks inferences and observations they have about the
own investigations, students will construct an 2 pictures presented by the teacher, solar panels and a corn field. Once they have created their own
explanation on how hydrogen, carbon, and observations they will discuss them with the class.
oxygen during photosynthesis can undergo
energy transformations to create biofuel for a
car.
There is no formal summative assessment for this lesson but this information will be incorporated
● Students will revise their initial models of plant into the Sequoia restoration plan.
regrowth using the new evidence gathered
about energy transformation through The closing quick write of this lesson is a “check-in” on how students are doing in formulating the
formation of molecules. ideas needed to complete this assignment.

Lesson 4 - [Introduction and reactions in cellular respiration]

Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

● Students will conduct an investigation to model

the cause and effect of complex carbohydrates
on the rates of respiration. Students will be asked to make observations during the exercise activity. They will utilize their
student notebooks to make note of key things they observed. They will then discuss this with the
● Students will create and present a claim about entire class, the teacher will facilitate conclusions.
the cause and effect of complex carbohydrates
on the rate of cellular respiration by using
analyzed data from previous experimentation.
Students are given a worksheet that they need to fill out as they progress in the lab. Students are to
work as groups to fill out the worksheet since the experiment is done in groups to help facilitate
thinking.

WIth the data gathered from the Yeast Lab Experiment, students will use this as evidence along with
other forms of evidence to create a CER about the cellular respiration reaction. They will do this in
groups and then present their CER to the class.

Lesson 5 - [Comparing photosynthesis and cellular respiration]

Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

● Students will illustrate a summative model and

 develop a narration to show how
photosynthesis and cellular respiration are
interrelated in the carbon cycle using evidence Students will engage in scientific discourse about how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are
gathered from articles, investigations, etc. related. They will address questions that still remain and their classmates will try to answer these
questions.
● Students will write an argument about the
relationship between photosynthesis and Students will submit all their models including the final class consensus model that includes revisions
respiration by using analyzed data from they needed to make from previous models.
previous experimentation.

Unit Summative Assessment

Plan for burn site mentioned in anchoring activity

By understanding how plants get their mass, students will be asked to construct a plan about what is needed at the burn site at Sequoia National Park for regrowth to take
place. They will create an ideal environment and explain why the plants need the items in their ideal environment in order to start the growing process. They will explain
what affects the burn had on the plants and what is needed to restore the area. The students will have developed the idea that fire devastation creates higher Carbon
Dioxide levels which in turn increases the rate at which photosynthesis occurs. They will create, in writing, a plan that can be submitted to the Sequoia National Park
board proposing their action plan for regrowth within the burn site area.

Useful Websites:

This resource is a real life case study as to why photosynthesis is important and how the carbon cycle plays a role in real life environmental issues.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/amazon-carbon-dynamics-understanding-photosynthesis-climate-link

Great breakdown of a potential lab-

https://vetmed.tamu.edu/peer/wp-content/uploads/sites/72/2020/04/Photosynthesis.pdf
 Who doesn’t love NASA?

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle

Review: Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists Science, April 19, 2013.

Summary of the Article:

How People Interact with Science

Individuals have different motivations for using scientific information. Factors that influence the use of science include social,
cultural, and demographic differences. In addition, the type of science that is useful differs from one problem or issue to
another. Science comes in a variety of forms such as experimentation, observational data or simulations or field research. One
goal of science education is to facilitate student understanding of what forms of science are best suited for the problems that
we are trying to solve. Students will need to understand that science is a flexible philosophical and methodological human
endeavor. The sub-goals of this BIG IDEA are as follows:
● Students will need to understand the context of a problem to understand what type of methods are needed
● Students will understand and interpret the scientific principles that “speak” to the driving questions and anchoring
activities presented in the coursework. The principles will change with subject matter.
● Students will engage in ill-structured problems, defined in personal and practical terms, to practice using different
principles and epistemic practices.

Knowing Science: From Knowing the Textbook to Accessing the Science you need
Science education should prepare more students to access and interpret scientific knowledge at the time and in the context of
need. Students will need to be able to read articles and the text book, draw on prior knowledge to interpret the text, and be
able to cross reference what is read with other materials. This is not simply the application of science for a particular problem,
this is reconstructing the science in valid ways to construct solutions. When it comes to planning science for students some
sub-goals of this major goal are as follows:
● To confront students with an ill-structured problem or challenge framed in an anchoring activity to extend their
existing knowledge and develop concrete solutions.
● To create a learning environment where students develop the skills to recognize when and how science is relevant in
their daily lives.
● To be able to cite textual based evidence to support or refute a claim (CCSS ELA)
● To be able to convert a phenomena into a mathematical model (CCSS Math)

Thinking Scientifically: From Practicing Science to Judging Scientific Claims

Students will need to engage in the epistemic practices of science in flexible and creative ways. The procedures that make up
the epistemic practices of argumentation, experimentation, modeling, and the negotiation of expository text are not static but
are guided by the cycle of scientific thinking. Students will rarely need to go through ALL the steps in a given epistemic
procedure in order to engage in scientific problem solving or research design. However, students will need to make
sophisticated judgments about credibility of scientific claims based on cues like publication venue, institutional affiliation, and
potential conflict of interest. In order to plan lesson that allow students to engage in this big idea teachers will need to set
some of the following goals:
● To help students understand how scientists evaluate evidence and how research is packaged for presentation. Engaging
student in argumentation and negotiation of expository text does this. Note: expository text will need to be presented in
more ways then just the textbook.
● To help students engage in peer review when teachers are planning an argument or negotiation of expository text.
● Students will engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem, with the goal of uncovering
epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface of science and daily life.
● To help students engage in and interpret scientific text.

Appreciating Science: From Positive Feelings to Deep and Durable Involvement

Teachers will need to create learning environments where students develop an appreciation of science and recognize how
science influences their daily lives. Students will need to connect with science though interest areas and following their
personal curiosities. Therefore, some of the sub-goals of the work science teachers do will be to:
● Facilitate students pursing their own science related interest, questions, and personal curiosities through project-
based; inquiry-based; and model based learning.
● Facilitate socio-scientific issue discussion in class.
● Help students identify and develop individual interest and expertise in the subject matter.
● Connect students with science resources in the community such as clubs, museums, projects, science fair, and business
that specialize in science outreach.
● Use science-based games to facilitate student interest and curiosity for science problem solving. Empowering students
to use the epistemic practices in their everyday lives and to own the practices for life long problem-solving.