Assessment
Use the student responses to the class discussions and also their ideas on the 1.2 Expressing Ideas and Questions Tool for Bread Molding, as well as the 1.2 Assessing the Expressing Ideas Tool for Things Decaying to assess their thinking at the beginning of the unit. By the end of the unit, students should be able to explain what happens when decomposers grow, move, and function at macroscopic and atomic molecular scales. For now, listen to students’ ideas, with attention to how they describe matter and energy. Some students may not use principles of conservation of matter to identify rotting materials as the source of mass for decomposers. Students may think that the rotting materials disappear as they decay and may not recognize that atoms are transferred from the material to the decomposer’s body for growth.
Tips
If you are teaching this to multiple classes, you can save different versions of the PPT, with Slide 7 completed for each block. Alternatively, have all classes combine their answers and have students look for similarities and differences.