This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Subject taught
- Biology
Language Skills Developed
- Interaction
- Listening
- Reading
- Speaking
- Writing
Transferable/Scientific Skills Developed
To observe, analyze and describe phenomena belonging
to natural reality and to the aspects of daily life.
To formulate hypothesis and verify them.
To use simple schematizations and modelling.
To acquire and understand information and know how to
connect it.
To face problematic situations.
Description
The general aim is to stimulate the students to a sensible and concrete awareness regarding global issues about the development and conservation of life on our planet. The greenhouse effect is an increasingly current problem about whose effects on the climate people are worrying more and more. Its consequences led to climate change in many areas of our planet. Drought seems to be one of the main consequences with disastrous effects both for fauna and, especially, for vegetation.
Climate change is today one of the most demanding challenges for our planet
Linguistic aims
• To improve language skills in L2
• To enrich scientific vocabulary
• To know how to move from one linguistic register to another.
• To produce clear and coherent texts in L2
• To summarize written texts
Subject specific aims
Students should be able to:
- describe natural processes like photosynthesis and respiration as well as combustion and show how they are interlinked in the recycling of carbon in nature.
- Understand that the three interdependent processes, photosynthesis, breathing and combustion, are the basis of the displacement of the carbon between the living and non-living component of the biosphere.
- Understand the reasons at the origin of global warming
Target group age
16-17 years
Level of competence in English (CEFR)
B1/B2.
Time required to use the resource with the students :
The time required to use the resource with the students is about 13 hours. Homework will take 5 hours more.
Phase 1: 2h with the students- (2h homework)
Phase 2: 2h with the students- (1h homework)
Phase 3: 3h with the students- (1h homework)
Phase 4: 2h with the students-
Phase 5: 3h with the students- (1h homework)
Phase 6: 1h with the students
Different phases to complete the lesson plan
The lesson is divided into six phases. In the last the students will have to present their own work about what they have studied
It can be produced in Power Point, through video, audio interviews, animations, so that digital skills are favoured too.
Phase 1
-The biogeochemical cycle of carbon (Video lesson)
-The biogeochemical cycle of carbon. The greenhouse effect and human artificial activities. (Web site/Portal)
-Carbon cycle (Interactive activity)
-Global warming (Interactive activity)
These resources must be previously watched and read at home.
The teacher at school explains and comments about the resources and divides the class into small groups that will have to study and collect data about deforestation in a specific geographical area. In addition, they will have to produce a short report with personal suggestions to solve the problem or part of it. In the second meeting, after a brainstorming, data and possible solutions will be compared.
Finally, the students have to compare the answers of the interactive activities.
Phase 2:
-The Greenhouse effect (Video lesson)
-The Biogeochemical Cycle of Carbon. Greenhouse effect 2
(Web site/Portal)
-The Greenhouse Effect: An Investigation (Interactive activity)
These resources must be previously watched and read at home
After a brief introduction relating to the presentation of these resources, the teacher divides the class into small groups that must read, understand and produce two
schemes on the subject. In the first scheme, the thermal
balance of the Earth must be highlighted, in the second, the changes in CO2 concentrations emitted into the
atmosphere since 1800 to today must be analyzed. For this
second scheme, students must integrate the examined resource with a personal research and build the related chart. They then have to compare their data with the other groups and start a comparison and discussion on the issue. At home students can have fun with “The Greenhouse Effect: An Investigation”
Phase 3:
-The Biogeochemical Cycle of Carbon. Photosynthesis. Videos
-Photosynthesis (Interactive activity)
These resources must be previously watched and read at home.
At school the teacher explains and comments on the resources, the teacher can interrupt the animation from time to time and have students explain the phenomenon by asking questions.
He explains the various slides also providing specific images related to the video but more explanatory.
At the end of the explanation, students must have primarily understood the importance of photosynthesis, of the autotrophic organisms that are at the base of the food chain; they must be able to explain the spectrum of action of chlorophyll and the function of the two photosystems; they must be able to explain the origin and the path that the electrons travel to reach the final acceptor; explain how ATP is produced in chloroplasts; analyze the fundamental phases of light dependent reactions and light independent reactions.
Then the students are divided into groups and invited to work on the topic.
In the next class meeting, each group, using both the material provided by the teacher and doing personal research, will involve the other groups through quizzes, crossword puzzles, discussions.
They must also discuss the interactive activity present in the resources
Phase 4 2h
-The Biogeochemical Cycle of Carbon. Photosynthesis. – Web
Site/Portal (lab)
This is an activity that allows students to do a simple qualitative and quantitative study of photosynthesis using disc-shaped pieces of leaves.
The teacher presents the activity explaining the various phases.
At the beginning some leaf discs, cut to measure, will be immersed in water. They will release oxygen as a result of photosynthesis and come to the surface. By measuring the elapsed time and the amount of floating discs it will be possible to calculate the reaction rate of photosynthesis. The teacher will explain that initially the leaf discs float in the water because the gases present in the mesophyll circulate freely in the large intercellular spaces.
Then these intercellular spaces are filled with a solution of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) which increases the density of the leaf and, therefore, the discs sink.
Cells use bicarbonate ions for photosynthesis. Then the oxygen is released inside the leaf and the discs begin to float
Since cellular respiration, which consumes oxygen, occurs simultaneously, the rate at which the discs emerge is an indirect measure of the rate at which photosynthesis occurs.
After addressing the analysis of the resource with the teacher, the students are divided into small groups, each of which will be provided with the activity sheet. At the end of
the experiment, the students will answer the questionnaire in the form and discuss about it
Phase 5 3h
-Photosynthesis - Relationship between Photosynthesis and
Cellular Respiration (Videos)
-The Biogeochemical Cycle of Carbon. Cellular respiration.
Videos
(Prerequisites: oxide reduction reactions)
These resources must be previously watched and read at home.
At school the teacher explains and comments on the resources, can interrupt the animation from time to time and have students explain the phenomenon by asking questions.
He explains the various slides also providing specific images related to the video but more explanatory.
At the end of the explanation, students must be able to
compare the energy gain resulting from complete oxidation of glucose and fermentation, to describe the role of ATP, NADH and FADH2 to summarize the process of glycolysis by highlighting the most important reactions and compounds, to explain the structure of the mitochondria, to describe how the formation of acetyl-Co A takes place, to analyze the main stages of the Krebs cycle, to summarize how NADH's high-energy electrons drop energy levels along the transport chain, to explain the fundamental role of oxygen at the end of the final electron transport, to describe the mechanisms that regulate chemosmotic processes
The teacher then divides the class into small groups that must make a list of the new terms learned and build a questionnaire, (of the type found in the interactive activities) to propose to the other groups, Kahoot can be used.
Phase 6: Presentation of the work of the individual groups
Possible difficulties for the students
The difficulties are represented by understanding the mechanisms of biochemical reactions, it is necessary to re-read and listen to the resources several times and work on the images provided and explained by the teacher.
Teaching Resources (created)
Teaching Resources (reviewed)