AZ Science Requirements
Biological sciences example.
Anchoring Big Idea:
Organisms require a supply of energy and materials for which they often depend on, or compete with, other organisms.
6-8th
“Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level—for example, when molecules from food react with oxygen captured from the environment, the carbon dioxide and water thus produced are transferred back to the environment, and ultimately so are waste products, such as fecal material.”
This is a video of a slightly more complicated version of the 6-8th grade core concept. The idea is that we can stop at glycolysis. Two more steps remain to maximize our energy dollar (ATP) yield per glucose molecule. Unlike burning gasoline in our car engines, the oxygen and glucose do not directly react with one another. The coordination is far more orchestrated than what is hiding behind these colored boxes.
9-12th
“As matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of living systems, chemical elements are recombined in different ways to form different products. As a result of these chemical reactions, energy is transferred from one system of interacting molecules to another. For example, aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) cellular respiration is a chemical process in which the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and new compounds are formed that can transport energy to muscles.
Anaerobic (without oxygen) cellular respiration follows a different and less efficient chemical pathway to provide energy in cells. “
Technically, anaerobic respiration is defined as something other than oxygen acting as the terminal electron and proton acceptor. The take home is clear, if we want our muscles to get the maximum about of ATP for glucose we need to breath!
What is not shown in this video nor included in the AZ state requirements is that fats may be broken down and fed into the TCA cycle. If we want to burn fat, we must breath! There is no equivalence of glycolysis for burning fat.
Another thing that often gets lost is that electrons ( e– )follow those H+. It is the sun that charges the battery in the forms of fats and carbohydrates when H+ and e– are transferred from water to CO2.
Remember this if you remember nothing else when you watch the sun rise in the morning. The energy for every step we will take and every thought we will think came from the sun. Remember the earth that supplied the water and the carbon dioxide. And remember the plants! May our deeds of the day give back to this cycle in a harmonious way.
