top of page
Standard 8.3.1
8.3.1

Plan and conduct an investigation and use the evidence to construct an explanation of how photosynthetic organisms use energy to transform matter. Emphasize molecular and energy transformations during photosynthesis.

Practices

Planning and Carrying out Investigations

  • Plan an investigation, in the design: identify independent and dependent variables and controls, what tools are needed to do the gathering, how measurements will be recorded, and how many data are needed to support a claim.

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

  • Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) of how energy is used to transform matter.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

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

  • Plants, algae (including phytoplankton), and many microorganisms use the energy from light to make sugars (food) from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water through the process of photosynthesis, which also releases oxygen. These sugars can be used immediately or stored for growth or later use.

​

PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life  

  • The chemical reaction by which plants produce complex food molecules (sugars) requires an energy input (i.e., from sunlight) to occur. In this reaction, carbon dioxide and water combine to form carbon-based organic molecules and release oxygen.

Cross Cutting Concepts

Matter and Energy

  • Within a natural system, the transfer of energy drives the motion and/or cycling of matter.

Big Idea
  • When given the right resources, plants grow.

  • What does a plant need to grow?

Standard 8.3.2
8.3.2

Develop a model to describe how food is changed through chemical reactions to form new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as matter cycles through an organism. Emphasis is on describing that during cellular respiration, molecules are broken apart and rearranged into new molecules, and that this process releases energy.

Practices

Developing and Using Models

  • Develop a model to describe unobservable mechanisms.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

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

  • Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy.

PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life  

  • Cellular respiration in plants and animals involve chemical reactions with oxygen that release stored energy. In these processes, complex molecules containing carbon react with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and other materials.

Cross Cutting Concepts

Matter and Energy

  • Matter is conserved because atoms are conserved in physical and chemical processes.

Big Idea
  • The process of cellular respiration uses stored energy and rearranges matter to sustain life.

  • How do our bodies release the energy in the food we eat and rearrange matter into new molecules?

Standard 8.3.3
8.3.3

Ask questions to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how change to an ecosystem affects the stability of cycling matter and the flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.  Emphasize describing the cycling of matter and flow of energy through the carbon cycle.

Practices

Ask Questions or Defining Problems

  • Ask questions that can be investigated within the scope of the classroom and  outdoor environment and other available resources noting observations and scientific principles.

Obtain, Evaluate and Communicate Information

  • Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple appropriate sources and assess the credibility, accuracy, and possible bias of each publication and methods used, and describe how they are supported or not supported by evidence.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience  

  • Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.

Cross Cutting Concepts

Stability and Change

  • Small changes in one part of a system might cause large changes in another part.

Matter and Energy

  • The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a natural system

Big Idea
  • Change in the resources of an ecosystem will affect the stability in the cycling of matter and flow of energy through an ecosystem.

  • How would a change (ie building highways and homes or replanting vegetation etc) affect the stability of the ecosystem?

bottom of page