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Product Highlights

• Produce a refined model of photosynthesis that includes the role light wavelengths play in the photosynthesis process.
• High school laboratory investigation with enough materials for 3 lab groups.
• Carolina Kits 3D®—Labs that use phenomena to support NGSS and 3-dimensional instruction.
• Kit includes a voucher to request delivery of perishable materials later at your convenience.

Product Details

• Produce a refined model of photosynthesis that includes the role that light wavelengths play in the photosynthesis process.
• High school laboratory investigation with enough materials for 3 lab groups.
• Carolina Kits 3D®—Labs that use phenomena to support NGSS and 3-dimensional instruction.
• Kit includes a voucher to request delivery of perishable materials later at your convenience.

Students learn how to make their own algae beads and get hands-on experience developing a model and testing a hypothesis. They begin by learning about the relationship between wavelength of light and the rate of photosynthesis. From there, student groups form hypotheses about how different-colored light filters affect photosynthesis rate. Finally, they test their hypotheses using colored filters, their algae beads, and a bicarbonate indicator solution.

Time Requirement
Teacher prep, approximately 2 class periods. Pre-lab, investigation, and assessment, 4 class periods.

Digital Resources
Includes 1-year access to digital resources that support 3-dimensional instruction for NGSS. Digital resources may include a teacher manual and student guide, pre-lab activities and setup videos, phenomenon videos, simulations, and post-lab analysis and assessments.

Performance Expectations
HS-LS1-5
HS-LS1-6

Crosscutting Concepts
Energy and Matter

Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Science and Engineering Practices
Developing and Using Models

Learning Objectives

• Identify and describe the components of a model illustrating that photosynthesis transforms light energy into chemical energy by converting carbon dioxide plus water into sugars and oxygen.
• Synthesize observations from multiple investigations to predict the relationship between specific wavelengths of light and photosynthetic efficiency in algae.
• Determine the accuracy of their predictions when analyzing experimental results.
• Use collected data to show that carbon dioxide is a reactant in photosynthesis and a product in cellular respiration, and that algae perform both processes.

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills
Students should know the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. They should also be familiar with pH.