Ecosystems:
Lesson 4: Photosynthesis
Textbook pages NC 12-13
Critical Vocabulary: Carbon Dioxide, chlorophyll, stomata
Critical Content:
à Photosynthesis an incredibly important process to the survival of everything.
à The majority of the energy on earth starts out as light energy. That energy is useless to us unless we can convert it into a type of energy that we can use.
à Photosynthesis makes that possible by converting light energy into simple sugars that are introduced to the food chain when they are consumed by smaller animals.
These notes---which come from the WCPSS CMAPP curriculum---introduce each of the essential elements in the process of photosynthesis. A simple activity would be to divide your class into two groups and then ask those groups to act out the process of photosynthesis with their bodies. They will use this set of notes to think through how to do that the best.
CRISS Strategy: Body Vocabulary
à One of the best ways to have students learn new concepts is to ask them to act concepts out using their bodies.
à The process of converting ideas into movement taps into their desire to move and be physical – a very real need for middle school learners.
à The process of converting ideas into movement also forces kids to think creatively about concepts simply because there’s never a perfect way of converting a natural process into a body movement.
à In body vocabulary, groups of 4-6 students spend 30-40 minutes developing a 1-2 minute physical representation of a term.
à Then, each group presents their representation to the entire class.
à After a group presents, the teacher asks the remaining members of the audience to score each presentation on a scale of 1-5.
à Ask students in the audience to explain their ratings and to defend the score that they give to a group by listing strengths and weaknesses of the presentation.
à Once each group has gotten feedback from 3-4 members of the audience, a new group is asked to present.
Lesson Body:
(needed materials: computer with internet connection and data projector, copies of Brainpop viewing guide on photosynthesis and of photosynthesis vocabulary notes. Both are posted on the ecosystems page of the sixth grade wiki: http://6sci.pbworks.com)
à Begin by showing students the Brainpop (http://www.brainpop.com) video on photosynthesis. Ask students to complete the viewing guide that goes along with this video AND give the quiz at the end of the video.
à When the Brainpop is over, ask students to break into groups of 4-6.
à Hand out the list of important vocabulary words that goes along with photosynthesis and explain to students that more information can be found on pages NC 12-13 of the textbook.
à Explain to groups that they must come up with a presentation using their bodies that accurately represents photosynthesis.
à Give groups 30-40 minutes to work out their presentations.
à Have groups present their representations one at a time.
à Following the description under CRISS Strategy above, have audience members give feedback to the group that is presenting.
à Consider having each student write a short paragraph when they are done explaining the process of photosynthesis.
à Encourage them to include details about the steps of photosynthesis that are easy to incorporate into a body vocabulary presentation and the steps of photosynthesis that were hard to include.