PBI Unit: can we live without oxygen?

Project description

Target Audience:

A biology class (9-12 grade). This project can be applicable both in advanced and normally paced classes as several parts can be adjusted to match the teacher's desired range of content knowledge.

About:

My PBI unit design will be a multidisciplinary project that seeks to cover aerobic respiration (biology), human impact (environmental science) and electronegativity (chemistry). Through an exploration of every step of respiration, the students will research one component in multi-skill level groups and write a letter to determine the importance of that product for sustaining human lives as obligate aerobes. The students will be given planets that will have different products for each part of respiration, which they will research and write about. Then, the students will design a character that will be fit to live in conditions that match their given products and will be able to live on their given planet.

Project Launch:

The students will be provided the launch in two forms. One will be their first introduction to the project during class, in which I will utilize a Voki character. See this Voki character as a sample character.

Please note that the Voki character in this link only speaks part of the project because I don't have the premium subscription.

The same information said by the Voki character will be given to the students in the form of a letter for them to read over and reference later on. The letter will read as follows:

DEAR SCIENTIST,

I am writing to you on the behalf of NASA with some exciting news. As you know, we have been having quite the overpopulation issue here on Earth, having just surpassed a population of over 8 billion people. The lack of resources is starting to catch up with us and we are starting to see more and more problems arise regarding resources like space, housing and food.

Luckily, we at NASA have discovered several planets that are in plausible travel distance from Earth, several of which look just like Mars, but with a temperature more similar to Earth’s. We hope to relocate at least part of the world’s population onto one of these new planets and we need your help in figuring out whether any of them have conditions stable enough for life.

Each group of scientists will be given a different planet to consider in hopes to maximize our efforts of discovering a new start for humanity. First, please consider researching some of the problems here on Earth. We must know how to avoid running into the same issues if we find a new planet to call home. Furthermore, please analyze your planets according to their ability to house aerobic respirators. Humans are obligate aerobes, but so are most human food sources. We must be able to provide a planet that will function for more than just humans.

Our team at NASA will be awaiting your response; we hope you can write back promptly so that we can use your findings to make decisions that will impact billions of people. No pressure! Simply use all the information provided to you to come up with a conclusion regarding your planet being able to support obligate aerobes.

Awaiting your response,

NASA

Along with the letter, the students will be given the following project guidelines:

This project unit will require the following:

Information on one of the problems on Earth caused by overpopulation and some plausible solutions to resolve these problems. Please do research on any problem that interests you and include the information in your final letter.

A description of the plausibility of life on your given planet as it relates the cellular processes of glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. Please choose one factor of each cellular process and conduct research with our group to determine if your planet will meet the standard required for aerobic respiration. Only one part of each cellular process needs to be researched by each group, but you may choose to include more. Be detailed and clear in explaining how your chosen factor affects aerobic cellular respiration.

Once your letter is written, you will work with your group to design a living being that conforms to the conditions of your given planet. Then, you will explain why their life is plausible on your planet. This can be a drawing, a stuffed animal, or anything else you can imagine. Be creative! You and your team will design a poster discussing your planet using the content of your letter. You’ll also bring your character design in to showcase.

At the end of your project, you’ll present your poster and character to scientists and any other interested guests/students in the area during our presentation event. Please invite whomever you would like! The presentation will occur on _____. Each team will set up their posters in the auditorium and any guests will be able to walk around. Once a guest approaches you, you will present your poster and your character.

Academic Standards:

SC.912.L.18.8 - Identify the reactants, products, and basic functions of aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration.

SC.8.L.18.2 - Describe and investigate how cellular respiration breaks down food to provide energy and releases carbon dioxide.

SC.912.L.18.6 - Discuss the role of anaerobic respiration in living things and in human society.

SC.912.E.7.8 - Explain how various atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic conditions in Florida have influenced and can influence human behavior, both individually and collectively.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to...

relate human overpopulation to global concerns
explore and determine the different substrates and products in aerobic respiration
design a character that is able to respire anaerobically
work with a team to determine the necessities for human life as they relate to respiration
explain the concept of electronegativity as it relates to the electron transport chain

Timeline:

This project will be carried out over a set of several two day intervals -- one day will be dedicated to learning the material as a class, and the next day will be dedicated to group work on the project. This timeline can be modified to allow more time for in-class instruction if it seems necessary. Each class period is assumed to be 50 minutes long.

DAY ONE: PROJECT INTRODUCTION

During day 1, the students will be presented with a powerpoint that will include links to the letter and project guidelines for future references. The class will start off with an introduction to cellular respiration that should take only about 5 minutes. The introduction will include only the most basic details, like what respiration is and why it is important, but should not include any of the specific steps of respiration. Following this introduction, I will explain to the students that respiration is a complex unit and we will learn about it by doing a project. Then, I will play the Voki character audio containing the launch letter. I'll ask for any questions and put students into their groups, which will be predetermined based on skill and efficiency levels (mixed skill groups). About 20 minutes of class time should be used up by this point, leaving another 30 minutes for the groups to begin researching their environmental concern as it relates to overpopulation. Whatever the students cannot finish in class will become homework. They should gather their data and share it with each other (preferably with a Google document), and begin formatting it to read like a letter.

DAY TWO: INTRODUCTION TO GLYCOLYSIS

Today will be used to explore the cellular process of glycolysis, the first step of respiration. A formative assessment should be implemented at the beginning of the lesson to gauge prior knowledge the students may have. This formative assessment can be in the form of question generating in which students formulate a question regarding glycolysis, revealing the depth of their knowledge. The following lesson on glycolysis should be modified appropriately to fit student needs. About 5 minutes should be spent on this activity. Next, I will begin exploring the steps of glycolysis, what comes in and what comes out in the form of a picture. I find that a lot of the steps of respiration make more sense when they are drawn out in ordered steps.

Example picture from https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/glycolysis and https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-nmbiology1/chapter/glycolysis/

The exploration of glycolysis should take up around 35 minutes of class time. The remainder of the class period should be dedicated to a follow up formative assessment to ensure the students understood the lesson. An example might be fact first questioning, in which students use a "what is" question and convert it to a "why" or "how" question. Each student should write their own question on a piece of paper and pass it to another student to answer and turn in.

DAY THREE: RESEARCHING GLYCOLYSIS

Each groups of students will be given their own planet to explore, each planet having one of the reactants or products of glycolysis (for instance, one group is given CO2, one group is given glucose, etc). Today, the groups will research their given molecule and determine the plausibility of life on their given planet as it relates to that molecule in the process of glycolysis. The students should research the exact function of their molecule, why that particular molecule is in use, and whether other replacements can be used. Several teams should also be given alternate products that are not actually involved in glycolysis, but can be used as an alternative to one of the typical glycolysis products. For instance, one group may be given GTP instead of ATP, having to determine whether or not this alternative molecule will work through research they will do in their groups. The students will be encouraged to perform research using the internet, any library sources they might find, and their textbooks. The entirety of this class period will be dedicated to the students doing research in their groups and writing the second paragraph of their letter about glycolysis. I will be walking around the room and helping students with any guidance or support they may need.

DAY FOUR: INTRODUCTION TO THE KREBS CYCLE

Once again, today will include several forms of formative assessment and classroom instruction on the Krebs Cycle. The lesson will begin with a brief introduction to the Krebs cycle with another drawing on the board, but this time it should be much quicker as the students will already be familiar with the lesson format. This classroom discussion should take only around 15 minutes. Following this, an activity that implements technology will be used in the form of a Labster online lab on the Krebs Cycle: LABSTER. The students can work in groups, but a formative assessment at the end of the lesson will be important to implement following this independent work. I will leave the students five minutes at the end of class to create a concept map based on what they learned about the Krebs cycle.

DAY FIVE: KREBS CYCLE EXPLORATION

Similar to the glycolysis exploration, students will be given one product of Krebs or a variant of it and will determine if that product will allow for human life on their planet, then write about it in their letter. The products given will be the ones in the picture below. The goal will be for the students to finish the Krebs cycle paragraph of the letter by the end of the day, demonstrating what they know and what they have learned from the the lab they did yesterday. Once again, I will be walking around providing any help needed. The entire class period will be dedicated to this.

DAY SIX: THE ELECTRON TRANSPORT CHAIN

Today, the students will explore the final part of glycolysis, the electron transport chain (ETC). As a class, we will first explore the concept of electronegativity: it is important for the students to understand that each product of the ETC produces more and more energy based on the next product's ability to 'steal' the electron from the previous product. The larger the gradient, the more energy in the form of ATP is produced. This is a tricky concept and will most likely require the entire class period of instruction. In order to introduce the idea of electronegativity, I will show the students a 5 minute video like this one: video. They only need to have basic understanding of this concept, but it may be that they already know about electronegativity if chemistry is required before biology like it was in my high school, so a formative assessment will be required at the start of the lesson to determine prior knowledge. This formative assessment can be in the form of whiteboarding, where students will group up and discuss what the want to write about electronegativity on their board. Hopefully, one person in their group will at least recognize the concept, and if not, a guess will be just as revealing of student knowledge as a perfect answer. After discussing electronegativity (5 minutes for formative assessment +5 minutes for video), the remainder of the class time will be spent drawing out and discussing the ETC. If any class time remains, I will ask the students to draw out everything they can about cellular respiration in the same manner that I had been drawing it on the board. I will explain that it is okay to make mistakes, and I will use these drawings as a formative assessment to track what the students have understood overall.

DAY SEVEN: EXPLORING THE ETC

Once more, the students will be asked to research their given product of the ETC and determine the importance of that specific given product. I will encourage students to relate their findings to what we learned about electronegativity. This time, however, each group will be given the same piece of information for their planet: there is a lack of (non-water) oxygen. The groups will be given a substrate that will replace oxygen, and will need to research the effect of their substrate on respiration, which will now become anaerobic. For instance, if given nitrogen instead of oxygen, respiration can still occur, but will produce significantly less ATP due to a smaller difference in electronegativity. The students will finish writing their letter paragraph about the ETC, and I will encourage them to begin thinking about their next prompt, which is brainstorming a character. The groups should discuss what materials they will need to create their physical characters and posters, and who will bring what in the next day.

DAY EIGHT: DESIGNING AN ANAEROBIC CHARACTER

The students will make their character and describe why it is able to live on their planet. If they need to require a product they don't already have, they may do so, but they may not use oxygen as their final electron acceptor, meaning everybody's characters will be anaerobes. This means that the teams will need to use their research on anaerobic respiration to explain why their character lives on their given planet. After they have planned and typed out anything they need to, the students will start planning out their poster presentation. Poster materials will hopefully be provided in class and students can print parts of their letters as information for their posters. The goal here is for the students to be able to express their creativity in making up these characters and posters. Depending on the progress the students make today, an extra class period might be needed to allow students to wrap up their project products.

(OPTIONAL DAY NINE:)

Students are given more time to finish their posters.

DAY NINE/TEN: PRESENTATION DAY

Today, the students will hang their posters and share their characters/posters with visitors who will come into the classroom. I will motivate other students to drop by by offering extra credit points if they attend one of the presentation sessions. Beyond this, I will work with administration to send out a community outreach post encouraging parents and other members of the community to come see the poster presentations. Additionally, I will ask the chemistry and environmental science teachers, as well as any other interested teacher, to come see the presentations. The students will talk about what they have learned and what is on their poster for the duration of the 50 minute period upon being approached by anybody interested. This will conclude the PBI unit.

Project Products:

By the end of the PBI unit, several products will be produced by the students, some from in-class formative assessment and others from the project itself. The three main products produced will be a written letter responding to NASA, a poster based on that letter (can contain all the same information) and a character design that will be able to live on the team's given planet. These products will all be a visual representation of the progress the students have made in learning about respiration and can be self-assessed by the students using the following rubric:

Project Presentation

The students will share their work to the community as described in day 10. I will do everything I can to attract as many people to the presentation period.

Rationale For Unit:

This unit will be effective as a PBI unit for multiple reasons. First, it relates to what the students would find interesting as the project relates to the current issue of global climate change and overpopulation. Additionally, the project will allow students to engage with their community through their poster presentations. In making the project one that pertains to current issues and raises community in the student's life, the student will be likely to become engaged and put in effort towards accomplishing the project to the best of their abilities.

Furthermore, the project unit will integrate several methods of instruction that will establish a solid understanding of cellular respiration processes. Each team will have group members that should be able to support each other, and the rubric will help the students self evaluate their progress and ensure they are scoring to the best of their abilities. In addition, I will implement multiple methods of formative assessment to track student progress and check that everybody is where they need to be with every part of the process, helping to ensure student success.

Overall, this unit provides an opportunity to create a product that is important in the real world, all while relating to the details and logistics of respiration. Students will be able to utilize numerous resources and even an online lab to perform their explorations and establish a concrete understanding of respiration.

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