Teach Engineering
Photosynthesis—Life's Primary Energy Source
Wouldn't it be great if you could produce your own food? Scholars learn about the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in plants. They consider how to use photosynthesis as a model of an efficient system and how to apply...
Curated OER
Teaching about the Effect of Photosynthesis and
High schoolers demonstrate the effects of photosynthesis and respiration. They decide which variables to analyze in a microcosm study. They produce a written paper, oral presentation, poster, or multi-media presentation
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TE Activity: Bubbling Plants
Students study a way to quantify the process of photosynthesis during a given time using the Elodea plant. They design a hypothesis that they test in the hands on activity. They compare the amounts of photosynthesis that occur during low...
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The Living Environment
In this living environment worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle given 34 clues about the various species in the environment that produce, consume and decompose. Topics also include photosynthesis, respiration, glucose, organic...
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Dissolved Oxygen and Photosynthesis: 1
Students are taught that plants produce oxygen underwater, and they design an experiment that test this question. They discuss whether plants give off oxygen, and how to measure this. Students measure the increase in dissolved oxygen...
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Photosynthesis and Respiration
High schoolers comprehend the relationship between plants and animals in an aquatic ecosystem. They predict the effects of low dissolved oxygen on the organisms. Students create microcosms with plants, animals, or both. They determine...
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Ph-ocusing on Photosynthesis In and Out of the Garden
Students are introduced to the concept of photosynthesis. As a class, they brainstorm a list of what they already know about plants and individually grow a plant on their own in the classroom. They record their observations daily and...
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Photosynthesis
Fourth graders discuss and identify the components of photosynthesis and the products of this process. They participate in a class discussion about the importance of oxygen, and in small groups act out the process of photosynthesis. ...
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Leaf Unit
Students complete a unit on leaves and their functions. They identify leaves and the trees they belong to, read various books, observe the process of photosynthesis on a flannel board, and create a leaf collage.
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Everybody Needs a Little Sunshine
Three activities introduce upper elementary ecologists to photosynthesis and food webs. In the first, an experiment is set up to determine how plants respond to different types of light. In the second, they connect organism cards with...
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How Plants Help Us Breathe
Third graders discuss how humans breathe and how plants help us to stay alive. In groups, they identify and label the different parts of plants and describe their functions. They compare and contrast the ways plants and animals breathe...
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Plant Parts and their Function
Discover why plants are important to our world. View plant parts and categorize them as stems or buds. Students do a cut and paste of pictures of plants into correct categories. Students also plant a carrot top,and record the growth and...
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Rice Farming
Third graders investigate how farmers get more rice from their land. In this farming lesson, 3rd graders discover things that farmers to do produce more rice. Students study photosynthesis and illustrate pictures about it. Students test...
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Candy Chemosynthesis
Students explain chemosynthesis and photosynthesis using candy. In this chemosynthesis lesson, students work cooperatively to create a visual explanation of the chemical equations of photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.
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Dissolved Oxygen and Respiration
Students are presented with the question, "Do plants that grow underwater use oxygen?" They create an experiment to test the presence of dissolved oxygen in the water using provided materials. Student experiments include a control jar as...
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Leaves, the Sun, and the Water Cycle
As a way to combine life and physical science, or simply as an investigation of plant transpiration, this lesson is sure to inspire! Middle schoolers capture the moisture given off by plants that are placed in different conditions. They...
Dawn N . Ericson
California Kelp Forest Restoration
This unit is so cool, you won't be able to "kelp" yourself! Intended for all grades, this science and activity guide for teachers offers a unique opportunity to understand kelp's role as a valuable ecological resource. Teachers and...
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Fiber of Life
Young scholars examine the importance of plants to individuals and society through a multi-discipline set of activities. They observe and draw different leaf structures and then create a book about trees and photosynthesis. They explore...
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Photosynthesis
Seventh graders investigate a multidisciplinary unit with an emphasis in using technology in order to engage them. The students perform Internet research about photosynthesis with a written assessment taken from the WebQuest.
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Do Plants Eat?
Students explain that photosynthesis is a process that plants use to convert light energy into glucose. They summarize photosynthesis as a chemical process in which the plant uses carbon dioxide and water to form glucose and oxygen.
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How do plant & animal cells make and use energy?
Middle schoolers show the relationship between the need for plants to undergo photosynthesis in order to generate oxygen. They see the flaws associated with this thinking because of the lack of CO2 and H2O and lack of sufficient gravity...
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Explain Plant Chemical Processes
Students discover plant chemical processes through three lab activities. Overheads, data sheets, and teaching procedures provided for the unit covering photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration.
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Carbon Dioxide Exercise
Students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years. Stacked together, the overheads for the whole class show an increase on carbon dioxide over five...
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Cell Energy-Bubbling Plants
Middle schoolers discuss the process of photosynthesis in plants and that oxygen is produced as a by product. They observe underwater Elodea plants "breathing" in a hands-on activity. After setting up the experiment, they observe the...