WEEK 2  Energy Flow and Metabolism -
Content, Activities, & Resources

Evolution of Metabolism: Photosynthesis

Learning Outcomes
  • To be able to define metabolism.
  • To understand the evidence for the evolutionary origin of photosynthesis.
  • To understand the impact of oxygenic photosynthesis on the Evolution of life on Earth.
  • To understand the importance of photosynthesis at the cellular, organismal, and ecological levels.
Activities
  • Floating Leaf Disk Assay for Investigating Photosynthesis - original protocol by Brad Williamson (there are many adaptations of this activity available online)
Web Resources
Download the presentation here. 
Download the Leaf Disk Assay activity here. 

Evolution of Metabolism: Cellular Respiration

Learning Outcomes
  • To understand the evidence for the evolutionary origin of cellular respiration.
  • To understand the impact of oxygen on the evolution of multicellular life on Earth.
  • To understand the processes by which cellular respiration harvests chemical energy from food and converts it into ATP that fuels cellular work.
  • To understand the distinctions between aerobic & anaerobic respiration
  • To understand the role respiration plays on a cellular, organismal, & ecological scales.
Activities
  • The Hunt for mtDNA from America's Stone Age Explorers - all the materials and multimedia that support this activity can be found at this NOVA Teachers website.  
  • Is it Alive? originally from NASA Education.  This version of the activity has been adapted by Suzanne Chippindale and Konika Ray of Project ASTRO.  There are many adaptations of this activity.  I've posted my modification in the doc to the right.     
Web Resources
Download the presentation here. 
Download the adapted activity here. 

Energy Flow & Chemical Cycling

Learning Outcomes
  • To distinguish the abiotic & biotic factors that compose an ecosystem.
  • To understand the roles of photosynthesis & cellular respiration on an ecological scale (review).
  • To understands what characterizes the major ecosystems on Earth.
  • To describe the flow of energy and cycling of matter through an ecosystem (food webs).
  • To describe the major biogeochemical cycles that are components of an ecosystem.
  • To demonstrate how the global carbon cycle is impacted by human activity. 
Activities
  • A Carbon Cycle Story.  Primary component words and connecting words and arrows are used to reconstruct a carbon cycle using poster paper and colored pens. 
  • Carbon Cycle Caper: In this activity students understand the carbon cycle, how it has been affected by our use of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution and how this underlies current worries about climate change.  From sciencemuseum.org. 
Web Resources
  • NASA's Earth Observatory is a veritable goldmine of NASA satellite imagery, global maps, articles, and educational resources.  One example of how it can be used in the classroom is showing global maps of changes over time in net primary productivity, chlorophyll concentration, land surface temperature, etc.  The article, World of Change, explains how measurements of "global chlorophyll and vegetation are valuable to scientists because they provide insight into the carbon cycle. Scientists use ocean chlorophyll and vegetation measurements to determine the planet’s net primary productivity: how much carbon is being used by the plants to grow. Carbon cycles through the oceans, soil and rocks, plants on land and in the ocean, and atmosphere. The build up of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel is the primary cause of global warming. The global biosphere has been helping to offset some of the excess carbon dioxide people have been pumping into the atmosphere."  This website provides imagery to visualize changes in primary productivity over time. 
  • Animated tutorial on the carbon cycle.  
Download the presentation here. 

Biological Effects of Climate Change

Learning Outcomes
  • To understand the causes of climate change (CC).
  • To understand how the greenhouse effect drives CC.
  • To understand the scientific evidence that supports the anthropogenic origins of CC.
  • To get a broad overview of some of the biological consequences of CC.
  • To look a bit more closely at the biological consequences of ocean acidification as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2.
Activity
Web Resources
  • NASA's site on Global Climate Change.  You can view the video, "Piecing Together the Temperature Puzzle" directly on this site, or the embedded YouTube video (see right).  This site has teaching resources - look under "For Educators" tab. 
  • CO2 NOW.  "To help the world succeed, CO2Now.org makes it easy to see the most current CO2 level and what it means. So, use this site and keep an eye on CO2.  Invite others to do the same. Then we can do more to send CO2 in the right direction."  You can download real time widgets of the most up-to-date CO2 data. 
  • Cal-Adapt - Exploring California's climate change data.  Great interactive website for teachers and students.
  • Climate Hot Map from the Union of Concerned Scientists is a rich compilation of learning resources on the global and local consequences of global warming. The Climate Hot Map allows you to travel the world, exploring the places (or "hot spots") where scientists have gathered evidence for climate changes that are already underway and where they are now assessing the risks associated with further warming.
  •  USA National Phenology Network "brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The network harnesses the power of people and the Internet to collect and share information, providing researchers with far more data than they could collect alone."  Make sure to look at the "Education" and "Participate" links, as there are great teaching resources and ways to get your students involved in collecting data.  
  • GreenFacts provides, "Clear summaries of scientific reports on climate change" as well as many other environmental and human health issues.  The summaries are excellent - thorough, well-organized, and well-referenced, structured like an online course so can be used as a solid background reference for a course.  Make sure to see the articles related to climate change. 
  • GRID-Arendal is "a collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  Established  in 1989  by the Government of Norway as a Norwegian Foundation, our mission is to communicate environmental information to policy-makers and facilitate environmental decision-making for change."  An excellent resource for graphics, photos, other media, and articles, on environmental issues, particularly climate change and its impacts.
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.  The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change."  Its 5th assessment report is due out in 2013/2014.
BBC Documentary, "The Death of the Oceans" with David Attenborough.  Ocean acidification and the work of Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (Director, Climate Change Institute, University of Queensland) are featured prominently. 
Download this presentation here.
TED Talk by James Balog - why the Greenland ice sheet is a key indicator of climate change.