S1 lessons on photosynthesis, food chains and food webs, ecosystems and sampling. Tap a lesson to open it.
Where does food come from?
You are now going to carry out an experiment to show that plants store food (starch) in their leaves.
Using iodine (which turns blue / black if starch is present) we can test leaves to see if they have been making food.
Collect
Instructions
Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make food.
Photosynthesis happens in the leaves.
The food plants make is a sugar called glucose.
To store its food the plant joins the glucose molecules together to make starch.
Let's see what you can remember from the cells unit! Draw and label a plant cell
We know that plants make their own food but how can they get so big?
In the 1600s a scientist named Jan Baptist van Helmont tried to work it out.
This is what some pupils in another class thought:
In groups, discuss each of the statements and think about the questions and the information on the cards.
After you have talked about the questions and information try to come up with a summary of your groups' thoughts to share with the rest of the class.
Photosynthesis is the process in which green plants make their own food.
They need carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to make this happen.
carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen
(light energy is trapped by the green chlorophyll in the leaf)
Raw materials are the things needed for photosynthesis to happen. The raw materials for photosynthesis are.......
Products are the things made during photosynthesis. The products of photosynthesis are........
True or False
In this investigation you are going to find out if plants really do need light to make food.
The plant you are going to use is a geranium.
Working in your groups discuss ways to design an experiment that would prove that plants need light for photosynthesis i.e. plants need light to make food.
How will you do it?
What equipment will you need?
Once you have had your plan checked by your teacher you can carry out your experiment.
Remember - be safe at all times.
Fill in the following sections of your report
Aim
To find out if...
Method
Safety
Conclusion
Think about the result of your experiment. Look back at the aim you wrote.
Can you answer your aim now?
Green plants make their own food using energy from the sun using the process of Photosynthesis.
Animals cannot make their own food and so need to eat plants or other animals to get energy.
A green plant produces its own food using energy from the sun so it is called a producer
An animal that eats (or consumes) the plant or another animal is a consumer
If an animal eats plants it is called a herbivore -
If an animal eats other animals (meat) it is called a carnivore -
If an animal eats both it is an omnivore -
We show this using a food chain
The arrows show the direction of energy flow
grass→sheep→wolf
from grass to sheep to wolf
Read this passage and in your jotter create two food chains from it:
Earthworms live in burrows and eat plant roots and leaves.
Earthworms provide food for frogs.
Insects, which feed off the nectar in flowers also provide food for frogs.
Label the organisms in your food chains using the terms below. Some animals may have more than one label.
In nature things are not usually that simple. Animals eat more than one thing.
How many plants and animals made up your last meal?
With all the information about what eats what we can make a FOOD WEB
Again the way the energy flows is shown by the arrows.
Use your deck of cards to create a food web.
Fill in the blanks on your handout.
A green plant produces its own food using energy from the sun so it's called a p_______
An animal that eats (or consumes) the plant or another animal is a c_______
A herbivore eats p_____
A carnivore eats a______
An omnivore eats p_____ and a______
If you disturb a food web by removing or adding even one species, it can affect several other organisms in the same food web.
Remove one of the species from the food web you have made......
Questions:
3:00
Habitat - the place where plants and animals live.
For example:
What is a worm's habitat?
What is a polar bear's habitat?
What is a tree's habitat?
Community - all the plants and animals that live in an area.
Ecosystem - the habitat and community together
Ecosystems can be quite small, e.g. a pond.
Biomes - Much bigger scale than Ecosystems. They are distinguished by temperature and rainfall.
Using the cards provided create a table with 4 columns.
Sort through the cards and for each column find its definition and some examples.
Watch the 'The Hunt' or any of the 'Planet Earth' series and note down as many examples of habitats, communities, ecosystems and biomes as you can.
3:00
Ecosystems can be broken down into their living and non-living parts.
Can you suggest some of the living parts of an ecosystem?
Can you suggest some of the non-living parts?
Sort the words below into living and non-living
If we want to know details about the living and non living parts of an ecosystem then we have to observe it and take measurements.
It is usually impossible to measure/count every part e.g. counting all the blades of grass in Inverleith Park.
Instead we take many small samples and multiply our results up to the size of the ecosystem.
To sample living things we use techniques such as:
Complete the activities and fill in table 1. Stick this in your jotter.
To sample nonliving things we usually use pieces of equipment to give us a measurement, such as:
Working in groups use the equipment provided to measure the:
of each of the soil samples provided.
Record your results in table 2.
3:00
Sort the parts of the ecosystem into living and non living