Through the process of photosynthesis, plants harness the Sun's energy and in so doing make many forms of life—including human life—possible. What path does this energy follow, and how is it transferred from one type of organism to another? In this feature from NOVA: Earth, learn why 400 pounds of corn cannot be converted into a 400-pound cow.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe how living and non-living things a part of an interactive system. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
The cells of plants include several parts, such as the cell body, cytoplasm, mitochondria, nucleus, vacuole, cell membrane, cell wall, and chloroplasts. Only plant cells have plant walls and chloroplasts.
The classroom resource provides a slide show that will describe the structures of a plant cell. In addition, there is a sing-along video that students can perform karaoke-style that will help them remember the different structures. After utilizing these two resources, the students can complete the short test to assess their understanding.
The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity will help explain the role of photosynthesis in cycling matter and energy into and out of organisms. The nonfiction text presents an experiment that will help explain the process of photosynthesis in an engaging, high-interest manner.