Lesson Plan: Here todaystill here tomorrow!

(Energy Flow and Carbon Cycling) Part I

Participants:
Debbie Drake, Bethlehem School, Bonifay, FL
Carrie Fiorimonti, Biologist
Barbara Rutledge, Gateway Military Academy, Bonifay, FL
Rebecca Theobald, Arnold High School

Biology (General)
Class Time Allotted- 90 minute block

Motivation:
(7-8 min)
Students will verbally express forms of energy as the teacher turns on a flashlight
(chemical energy) and a hair blow dryer (thermal energy from coal-carbon- generated
power plant) to demonstrate flow of energy.

A selected student is given an energy bar and is asked to run in place for 2 minutes.
(Heat from his/her body will be given off).
(5 min).

Question (problem) is asked, What happens to the energy that is being used, if the
amount of energy in the universe remains constant?

Is there a way to capture and use the heat energy that is lost to the atmosphere?

Teacher Comments:
I n country homes of the south where there was no central heat, children would dress
for school in the morning close to the oven if biscuits had been baked. So the heat
escaping from the oven was not a total loss! But most heat from appliances or
machinery is useless, as it cannot be harnessed and stored.

(Students view first web clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvTDylIxMA and take the Pre-
Test. Following Pre-test students will move to the lab tables in groups of three.)




Energy Flow /Carbon Cycle Name_______________________
Pre-Test
1. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy has which of the following
characteristics?
A) Energy can be transformed from one type to another.
B) Energy is constant in amount as it exists in the universe.
C) Energy may become less useful as it moves from one source to another.
D) All of the above are true.

2. Animals add CO2 to the atmosphere when they
A) exhale.
B) carry out photosynthesis.
C) inhale.
D) flatulate.

3. Plants utilize CO2 from the atmosphere when they:
A) exhale through their stoma.
B) photosynthesize.
C) die.
D) flatulate.

4. Trees and oceans are known as
A) primary producers.
B) consumers.
C) carbon sinks.
D) autotrophs.

5. Animals and plants add CO2 to the Earths soils when they
A) breathe.
B) photosynthesize.
C) die.
D) flatulate.

6. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere seems to be decreasing.
A) True
B) False


7. CO2 in the atmosphere is a major contributor to the
A) carbon sinks.
B) Greenhouse effect.
C) problem of deforestation.
D) ozone depletion.

8. Approximately _____% of the energy from a lower trophic level is transferred to the
next highest trophic level
A) 90%
B) 70%
C) 40%
D) 10%

9. Which law of physics states that matter cannot be created or destroyed?
A) The Law of Gravity
B) The 1
st
Law of Thermodynamics
C) Bernoullis Law
D) The theory of relativity
10. Energy is lost during transfer to higher trophic levels due to
A) growth.
B) photosynthesis.
C) respiration.
D) digestion.

11. True or false - Thee more acidic something is, the lower its pH.
A) True
B) False


12. Using the diagram, where do you think more carbon is being stored and temporarily
kept from cycling?
A) Trees and oceans
B) Atmosphere
C) Humans and livestock
D) Coal burning power plants

13. Carbonic acid forms when these substances combine:
A) Carbon and nitrogen
B) Carbon and water
C) Carbon and oxygen
D) Oxygen and sulfur







Materials Needed

Energy worksheet / Carbon cycle worksheet
Term page with (previously reviewed) definitions
Two appliances (flashlight and hair blow dryer recommended)
Aquarium
Items to bury in compost (see worksheet for suggestions)
Potting soil ( two 40# bags of non-sterilized) or garden soil
Computer/ video projector
Energy bar
Camera
Projector/computer set-up
For each group or team of 3 students:
Two test tubes
Test tube rack
Package of yeast
Small scissors
Teaspoon of sugar
Small sandwich bags
2 different colored balloons
Clear plastic cup
Indicator solution- either bromothmol blue or purple cabbage solution
Drinking straw
pH test strips / pH scale
*The teacher should have an entire duplicate test tube setup available should a groups balloon
be faulty.










Science Lab Setup:
Students are assigned in groups of three per lab table.
One student monitors time allotment, another the
materials and orderliness, and the third is responsible for
manipulating activity.


Work table for aquarium

















Lab Table
Lab Table
Lab Table
Lab Table











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STUDENT DESKS

WATER SOURCE
Outcomes
Dimensions of K-12 Science Education Standards:

Scientific and Engineering Practices: Developing and using models
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models and
Energy and matter: Flows, Cycles, and Conservation
Disciplinary Core Ideas: Physical Science- Energy
Disciplinary Core Ideas: Life Science Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics
Disciplinary Core Ideas: Earth and Space Science: Earths systems and Earth and human activity

Next Generation Sunshine State Standards:
SC.912.L.17.9 / Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Explain the pathway of energy transfer through trophic levels and the reduction of available energy at
successive trophic levels.
SC.912.E.7.1 / Analyze the movement of matter and energy through the different biogeochemical
cycles, including water and carbon.
SC.912.L.17.20 / Predict the impact of individuals on the environmental systems and examine how
human lifestyles affect sustainability.
Content Literacy Standards (Common CoreReading Standards for Literacy in
Science and Technical Subjects 6-12)

Grades 9-10:
4. Determine the meanings of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and
phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts
and topics.
5. Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships
among key terms.
Review of 6-8:
9. Compare and contrast information gained from experiments, simulations, video or
multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same subject.

Specific Learning Outcomes:
1) Given a blank pyramid diagram, students in small groups will demonstrate
their knowledge of the loss of useful energy as it flows through trophic
levels by naming organisms that exist in each trophic level and apply the
(percentage) amount of available energy.

2) Using their textbook for reference, students will name at least 4 of the
forms of carbon as it travels through the biogeochemical cycle
atmospheric, aquatic and in earths compositionwith 100% accuracy.

3) Students will compare items that are commonly disposed of and predict
which items will not decompose.

4) In Part 2 Lesson, students will measure with a weigh scale the remains of
the buried. Students will calculate a percentage of the whole remaining
of other items, using photos.

5) (Part 2) Students in small group format, will collaborate to write
recommendations and new policies for manufacturers and communities for
reducing human impact and increasing sustainability of earths resources.
Each group will present their findings to the class, scoring at least
acceptable on all dimensions of a rubric.



























Presentation and Participation
Energy Flow and Carbon Recycling Part 1

Behavior: Lecture (7-8 minutes)

Present the students with a question as to the outcome of spent energy from two
sources, a flashlight and a hair blow dryer. Discuss the sources of the energy
(stored chemical and carbon fuel (coal burning power plant). Present a student
with an energy bar. Ask the volunteer student to run in place for 3 minutes. The
heat generated by the students muscle cells burning the calories provided in the
bar, is lost to the surrounding atmosphere. How much remains for the students
cell repair and growth?

Cognitive: Thinking Activities

Students discuss how much of the energy bar is going to be spent as heat
energy vs. cellular growth.

Behavior: Lecture (7 min)
Students view web clip depicting energy flow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBvTDylIxMA
Behavior: Vocabulary Building (20 min)
Application: Seeking out answers to questions

Students will collaborate in small group to complete a worksheet using the list of
terms and definitions given, after the teacher recites the terms aloud.

Students share their hypotheses as to the reason for the pyramid shape using
the information they place in their diagram. Answers to fill-in-the blank
statements and short answer questions are presented by group members and
verified by the teacher.

Behavior: Lecture (7-8 minutes)
Provide each student with the worksheet on Carbon Dioxide Cycle. Discuss the
term energy flow leading to some loss of useful energy versus a cycle in which
an element is reusable as it moves through the biogeochemical phases.

Students view web clip (2.5 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNIQ9KTMimQ&feature=related

Behavior: Vocabulary Building (6-7 minutes)
Students use the term definition worksheet to complete Carbon Cycle Worksheet.

Application/Process: Testing Hypothesis (10 minutes)
Students move to the lab tables where materials have been displayed. Students
follow instructions given on lab side of Carbon Cycle worksheet, Yeast Exhale
Lab.

Students write the chemical equation for yeast fermentation and predict (write
their hypothesis) as to what will take place in the test tube with sugar and yeast
combined.























Questions

Carbon Cycle

Compare/contrast the intake, assimilation, and release of carbon by each
of the following: producers, consumers, and decomposers
Organism Intake Assimilation Release
Producer CO2 from
atmosphere during
photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
produces glucose
which is
transformed into
plant material
Death and
decomposition of
plant material;
Cellular respiration
releases CO2 into
atmosphere
Consumer Ingests either
plant or animal
material
Incorporates
glucose, amino
acids, and lipids
into body
structure
Cellular respiration
releases CO2 into
atmosphere;
excretion of waste
Decomposer Ingests detritus
and other dead
plant or animal
material
Incorporates
glucose, amino
acids, and lipids
into body
structure
Cellular respiration
releases CO2 into
atmosphere;
excretion of waste

1. Draw the biogeochemical cycle (abiotic carbon). Will depict atmospheric,
earths crust, earths core, and oceanic sources of carbon.

2. Create a carbon cycle using following terms: algae, fish, crab, detritus,
upwelling. (Still working on this one)

3. What would happen if we did not have decomposers (crabs, bacteria)?

4. Not all of the energy from lower trophic levels transfer to the higher
trophic levels. Explain where this energy goes (hint: you may want to use a
food pyramid to illustrate this)

Buried Treasure
1. When something is decomposed, it loses mass. What happens to that
mass? Where does it go?

2. Create a line or bar graph to show the decomposition of four of the various
items we buried in the aquarium.














3. What happens when we bury our trash in a landfill or garbage dump?
What happens if we burn our trash?
Can you think of other ways to dispose of your trash?


4. Think about how much garbage is generated everyday by manufacturers
and consumers. Develop some policies (i.e. guidelines, laws, etc.) to help
reduce waste and/or their impacts on the environment that could be
implemented by industries (e.g. goods and services producers, food
industries, etc). What policies might you incorporate into your daily living
as a family? As a school?

Carbon Emission
Time (days)
Percentage
remaining
1. Give examples of carbon in each state of matter.


2. Write the formula for cellular respiration.







3. Draw a pH scale and label it with the following terms: Numbers 0-14, acidic,
neutral, basic. Show (approximately) on the pH scale where the following
compounds could be found: Ammonia, vinegar, pure water,
hydrochloric acid, bleach. Where do you think carbonic acid will fit in?







4. Explain how a change in pH indicates carbon dioxide is dissolving into
water.
5. Consider the results from our experiment. What do you think the burning
of fossil fuels (carbon) has on our environment? Can you think of any
consequences to these effects?











0 7 14





Reflection
(Rebecca? Can you provide some web links for docs? Dr. Butler would like us to
provide actual materials to use.)

Written formative assessments will take place through worksheets and the Post test.
Formative assessment will also occur throughout the lesson as the teacher circulates
and asks questions. Verbal feedback will be provided to groups throughout the lesson
based on their work and their answers to the teachers questions.

For the summative assessment, groups will present their recommendations to a panel
of environmental experts (their classmates). They must score an Acceptable on all
dimensions of a rubric (including the potential effectiveness of their suggestions to
reduce environmental impact and increase sustainability, content accuracy, and effort).
Their classmates will fill out a peer assessment. Each member of a group will also fill
out a self-assessment.

Students will receive verbal feedback at the time of the presentation and written
feedback in the form of the summative assessment rubric, written teacher comments,
and the peer assessments.

This lesson culminates in a group project:

Students, given available documents with statistics, will research human disruption of
the carbon cycle and the natural energy pyramid (the normally reduced amount of
energy available to successive trophic levels).

Students will then collaborate in small groups to recommend policies that might be
introduced to lessen the impact of humans on environmental systems as well as those
that might increase usefulness of biotic materials we would call waste.













Safety

General:
Instruct students not to handle materials on the lab tables until told to do
so.

Energy Flow Lesson:
Blow dryer is plugged in apart from a water source.
Student running in place will have adequate uncluttered space.

Carbon Cycle Lesson:
Students will thoroughly wash hands after yeast demonstration set-up.
Students will wear goggles when blowing through a straw into the
bromothymol blue solution.
Students will wear gloves if handling the soil for the buried treasure
project.
Instruct students to handle glass test tubes with care and always place on
rack. If test tube breaks, the teacher will handle the cleanup, placing broken
glass in an appropriate container.

Buried Treasure:
Students are instructed to wear gloves when handling the items going into
and being dug from the soil terrarium.
Wash hands thoroughly following the final dig.
Secure all trash items from the compost material in an appropriate
receptacle for disposal.












Transformative:
(Accommodations for at least 2 special needs students)

1. For an ESOL/LEP student and/or visual learner: The learner will be given
pictures to use in completion of the energy pyramid worksheet instead
of words alone.

2. For students who have low math skills: the student can create a visual
timeline to highlight the buried treasure experiment. (Photos will be
taken at designated times and transferred into a slideshow. Using the
photos as qualitative data along with the quantitative data (tables and
graphs) will help ALL students better conceptualize matter/energy
transfers.)


3. Students develop a public service announcement and/or ad campaign
designed to target adolescents and/or children. (This will give small
groups and/or individuals the flexibility to use creative strengths to
complete the project. For an auditory learner, the final project could be a
radio announcement. Changing the target audience to children can
reduce the language complexity levels for ESE students. A rubric should be
provided for visual, audio and combinational formats.)

4. ADD/ADHD students may complete the worksheets with a learning
partner who can assist with staying on task in a timely manner.







Utilize

After reviewing grades and missed questions on the pre and post exams,
determine what if any concepts need to be readdressed and with whom.
Typically, students have some difficulty grasping that matter and energy cannot
be created nor destroyed, only transformed. Loose use of the term lost in class
discussions can cloud a students understanding of transformations, entropy and
useful available energy.
It is usually a good idea to assign (or volunteer) a couple of students who are
competent with graphing and basic data analysis the role of data expert for a
specific time period. So when a student has trouble graphing data, the student is
encouraged to check with one of the classes data and/or graphing experts.
This will better allow the teacher more time to answer content related questions.