Submitted by Nathan Inouye

Marine Science Lesson Plan: Photosynthesis

Cell Biology State Standard:

4.  The fundamental life processes of plants and animals depend on a variety of chemical reactions that occur in specialized areas of the organism’s cells. As a basis for understanding this concept:

f. Students know usable energy is captured from sunlight by chloroplasts and is stored through the synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide.

Objective: To understand the role that photosynthetic pigments play in marine plants and phytoplankton.

Background Information:

Marine science is a great way to integrate our own environment to the biology/life science state standards. It is important to talk about how the ocean environment plays a vital role in the primary productivity of the biosphere. There are different types of plankton including phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacterioplankton and more recently discovered viroplankton. The primary focus of this unit is phytoplankton, the photosynthetic plankton. Even thought the focus is on how phytoplankton uses photosynthetic pigments to absorb sunlight, I recommend that you use terrestrial plants in the lab below. If you want to try to use seaweed, there are 3 types of seaweeds which contain the following different types of photosynthetic pigments:

  1. Green algae Chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids
  2. Brown algae Chlorophyll a,c and carotenoids (fucoxanthin and others)
  3. Red algae Chlorophyll a, phycobilins (phycocyanin, phycoerythrin) and carotenoids.

Lesson Plan:

1.  Provide some background information on phytoplankton and seaweed.

Show students the different types of seaweeds (Take a field trip or have samples that you have collected).

2.  Use the microscope lab to get students proficient using the microscope (see below: Microscope Lab).

3.  Identify different types of plankton using the microscope (see below: Plankton Lab).

4.  Provide some background information about photosynthesis, plants cells, chloroplasts and photosynthetic pigments.

5.  Identify photosynthetic pigments (see below: Plant Cell Pigments Lab).

Lab Activities Supporting the Unit:

Microscope Lab

Plankton Lab

Photosynthetic Pigment Lab

Name:______

Period: ______Date: ______

Microscope Lab

Introduction: In your own words, describe the purpose of a microscope. What are some important features of the microscope and how does it work? What are some procedures that must be taken to safely and properly use the microscope? How do you calculate the total magnification of a microscope? Write a minimum of 6 sentences.

Purpose: To understand how to use a microscope safely and properly.

Procedures:

1.  Examine a piece of newspaper or U.S. dollar bill underneath the microscope. Remember to use the scanning power first!

2.  Draw what you see under the 4x and 10x objective lenses.

3.  Draw and label a detailed picture of a microscope.

Observations and Data:

Be as accurate and as detailed as possible in your drawings.

4x 10x

Microscope Drawing: Draw and label the following parts of a microscope: ocular lens, arm, objective lenses (high, low & scanning), stage, stage clip, course adjustment knob, fine adjustment knob, diaphragm, base and light source.

Conclusion Questions:

  1. List 4 examples of scientific tools and their uses.
  2. Why is the use of technology important to science?
  3. What is the magnification of scanning power?
  4. What is the purpose of using scanning power first?
  5. Calculate the total magnification of an object under a microscope if you use a 20x objective lens and the ocular lens is 10x. Show the formula and your work.
  6. If the total magnification of an object under a microscope is 240x and the ocular lens is 6x, what is the magnification of the objective lens? Show the formula and your work

Name:______

Period: ______Date: ______

Plankton Lab

Introduction: In your own words, describe the different types of plankton. What is the role of phytoplankton in the ocean? What are zooplanktons? What are some examples of phytoplankton and zooplankton? How are phytoplankton and zooplankton interconnected? Write a minimum of 6 sentences.

Purpose: To identify various types of plankton.

Procedures:

4.  Prepare a glass slide sample of plankton.

5.  Draw what you see under the 10x objective lenses.

Observations and Data:

Be as accurate and as detailed as possible in your drawings.

10x

Conclusion Questions:

  1. What are the different types of plankton?
  2. What is the difference between phytoplankton and zooplankton?
  3. Draw a simple food chain that includes phytoplankton, zooplankton and three other organisms.
  4. Why is phytoplankton so important to the biosphere?

Name: ______

Period: ______Date: ______

Photosynthetic Pigment Lab

Introduction: In your own words, describe what is required for photosynthesis to occur. What are the products of photosynthesis? Where are photosynthetic pigments located? How can you determine the type of photosynthetic pigments present in a plant? Write a minimum of 6 sentences.

Purpose: Determine what type of plant pigments can be found in a green plant and red plant.

Procedures:

  1. Cut the ends off of 2 filter-papers. Draw a base line about ½ inch from the bottom of 2 filter-paper.
  2. Place a green leaf on the line and press it into the filter-paper using a coin. Repeat process for the red leaf. Staple the filter-paper together to make a cylinder.
  3. Add just a small amount of ethanol (20%) and acetone (80%) solution to the bottom of the beaker.
  4. Put the filter paper into the beaker and cover the beaker with a glass plate. Wait 15 minutes, take-out filter-paper and let dry.

Data and Observations:

Green Leaf Observations

Color Observed / Probable Pigment

Red Leaf Observations

Color Observed / Probable Pigment

Key:

Color Observed / Plant Pigment
Faint Yellow / Carotenes
Yellow / Xanthophyll
Bright Green / Chlorophyll a
Yellow-green / Chlorophyll b
Red / Anthocyanin

Conclusion Questions:

  1. Write a balanced equation for photosynthesis.
  2. What part of the plant cell does photosynthesis occurs?
  3. How many different plant pigments did you observe? What are the names of the plant pigments?
  4. How did the pigments in the green leaf compare with the red leaf?
  5. If your plant is green, which color light waves are being reflected? Which are being absorbed?
  6. If you were to shine red light on a red plant, what color would the plant be? Why?