Activity 5.1: Tracing the Processes of Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis (40 min)

Target Student Performance

Students “zoom in” to the structure and function of a mushroom’s organ systems and cells, tracing atoms and energy.

Resources You Provide

pennies (10 per pair of students)
nickels (3 per pair of students)
video of a fungi growing, such as here: http://www.plantpath.cornell.edu/PhotoLab/TimeLapse2/Amanita1_credits4_FC.html

Resources Provided

5.1 Tracing the Processes of Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis PPT
5.1 Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet(1 per student)
5.1 Grading the Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet
5.1 Tracing the Process for Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis Directions (1 per student or pair of students)

Recurring Resources

Decomposer 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)
Digestion and Biosynthesis of Carbohydrates 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)
Digestion and Biosynthesis of Protein 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)
Digestion and Biosynthesis of Fat 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)
Metabolic Pathways 11 x 17 Poster (1 per class)

Setup

Print a Decomposer 11 x 17 Poster for each pair of students. Gather enough pennies and nickels to have 10 pennies for each pair of students and 3 nickels for each pair of students. Print one copy of 5.1 Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet for each student. Prepare a computer and a projector to display the PPT. Print and hang the Digestion and Biosynthesis 11 x 17 Posters and the Metabolic Pathways 11 x 17 Poster.

Directions

1. Use the instructional model to show students where they are in the course of the unit.

Show slide 2 of the 5.1 Tracing the Processes of Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis PPT.

Tell students that in today’s activity they will think about about how fungi grow through digestion and biosynthesis.

2. Discuss Connecting Questions about Processes at Different Scales for Digestion

Display slide 3 in the PPT. Show students the short clip of fungi growing. Follow the link in the PPT, in the materials list, or here (http://www.plantpath.cornell.edu/PhotoLab/TimeLapse2/Amanita1_credits4_FC.html).

Introduce students to the macroscopic driving question: How do fungi get food to all of their cells?
Connect this question at the macroscopic scale to an unanswered question at the microscopic scale: How do food molecules get into the fungi’s hyphae?
Connect this question at the microscopic scale to an unanswered question at the atomic-molecular scale
:
How are molecules in food changed chemically so that fungal cells can use them?
Assure students that we will be able to answer several of their unanswered questions by the end of today’s activity.

3. Have students consider how fungi can digest food without a digestive system.

Display slide 4 of the PPT and ask students to consider the question on the slide. Tell students that like animals, fungi have to digest their food, but how can they do that if they don’t have mouths, stomachs, or intestines? Ask them to notice the structure of the fungi, and to think about where digestion might be happening.

Show slide 5 of the PPT to point out where digestion occurs. Explain that a mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus (sort of like the apple on an apple tree). It spreads spores from the fungus to other places where fungi can grow. The main body of the mushroom is called the mycelium; it is an underground network of thin fibers called hyphae.
Show slide 6 to introduce the idea the digestion occurs outside of the fungus.

4. Have students begin to trace the process of digestion in fungi.

Give each pair of students a Decomposer 11 x 17 Poster, 2 nickels and 10 pennies, a copy of 5.1 Tracing the Process for Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis Directions.

Explain that students will follow the directions to trace the path of food in fungi. Tell the students to pause at the of the Stop and Think after steps 1 and 2.

5. Show an animation of the process of digestion.

Display slide 7-8 to show an animation of what happens to the molecules and chemical energy during digestion.

When watching the slides, ask students what is happening to energy. Listen to see if they notice that chemical potential energy is conserved in the C-C- and C-H bonds through digestion.
Show students the Digestion and Biosynthesis 11 X 17 Posters to help students visualize the process.

6. Have students trace step 3-4 on the decomposer poster.

Tell students to continue to follow the directions on 5.1 Tracing the Process for Fungi Growing: Digestion and Biosynthesis Directions. Have them pause after step 4.

Show students slide 9 to show them how small organic molecules move into and through the hyphae.

Use slide 10 and 11 to transition students to tracing biosynthesis. Have students finish following the directions to trace biosynthesis. (Step 5 reminds students of cellular respiration).

7. Show an animation of the process of biosynthesis.

Display slide 12-13 to show an animation of what happens to the molecules and chemical energy during biosynthesis.

When watching the slides, ask students what is happening to energy. Listen to see if they notice that chemical potential energy is conserved in the C-C- and C-H bonds through biosynthesis.
Show students the Digestion and Biosynthesis 11 X 17 Posters to help students visualize the process.

8. Ask students to consider what happens to small organic molecules not used by the fungi.

Use slide 14 to ask students what happens to small organic molecules not used in biosynthesis.

Show slide 15 to discuss what happens to other small organic molecules. Point out that a percentage stays in the soil as humus.

9. Transition to have students consider the atoms that make up decomposers.

Show slide 16 of the PPT. Pass out 5.1 Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet to each student.

Tell students that now they have considered how molecules move through and are used by fungi they will now consider the atoms that make up decomposers.
Read the top portions of the worksheet with students.
Have students work with a partner to complete the first chart on the worksheet about atoms.

10. Have students identify where the atoms that make up decomposers come from.

Show slide 17 of the PPT.

Remind students that in Lesson 2 they learned about the molecules that make up cells and the atoms that make up the molecules.
Discuss the answers to the first chart on the worksheet. The atoms in the large organic molecules of fungi all primarily come from food. Water and air are used during cellular respiration.

11. Have students identify where the energy in decomposers come from.

Show slide 18 of the PPT.

Have students complete the second chart on 5.1 Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet on energy with a partner.
Show slide 19. Remind students that chemical energy is in C-C and C-H bonds.
Discuss students’ answers together. Chemical energy is only found in the food that decomposers take in. There is no chemical energy in the water or air decomposers take in.

12. Show students that there are many additional metabolic pathways.

Use slide 20 and the Metabolic Pathways 11 x 17 Poster to show students that there are many more metabolic pathways besides what they learned about in this lesson.

This poster only shows pathways in which small organic molecules are changed into other small organic molecules. There are other pathways that change small organic molecules into large organic molecules.
Organisms are complex; this poster also offers students a glimpse of their complexity.

Assessment

Matter tracing: note if students are able to recognize that the same atoms that were in food are still the atoms in the large organic molecules at the end of biosynthesis.
Energy tracing: note the ways that students explain how chemical energy is conserved through both digestion and biosynthesis.
Use 5.1 Grading the Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet to grade students’ answers on 5.1 Tracing Atoms and Energy in Decomposers Worksheet .

Differentiation

Introduce the terms Large Organic Molecules and Small Organic Molecules with examples. Students will need this information to explain digestion and biosynthesis.
Strategic grouping with strong speakers
Hand out individual Decomposer Posters for students to trace molecules that can be written on and kept in the accompaniment of the penny/nickel exercise
Work on Tracing Atoms and Energy in Fungi worksheet together and create a pie chart to show what makes up decomposers from the information students gather

Modifications

At the end of the activity, have students explain the difference between biosynthesis and digestion to a partner.
Have the students “act out” digestion and biosynthesis by assigning them molecules using signs. Have them move around the room to represent the two processes by linking and unlinking hands.

Extending the Learning

Listen to the National Geographic Podcast from the Encyclopedia of Life (http://eol.org/info/podcasts_fungi)
Unlike plants and animals, fungi do not have a vascular system to move materials long distances. Instead materials move long distances through fungal hyphae. This is accomplished by both pressurized bulk flow (similar to sap movement in the phloem of plants) and cytoplasmic streaming (similar to movement of materials within amoebas). You can show your students a video of hyphal cytoplasmic streaming here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry0E5YTEazs