Biomolecules on the Menu

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Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Saved By

66 Users

Description

In this Click & Learn, students explore the process of digestion and how it connects to metabolism and cellular respiration.

How does the food we eat fuel our bodies’ activities? This Click & Learn connects food with energy production and storage in cells. Students embark on an engaging exploration of how food is digested into nutrients, how nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to cells, and how cells use nutrients in cellular respiration.

The three main sections provide a progressively zoomed-in look into how the body uses food for energy. Depending on the goals of the class, students can explore just one section or all three.

The two accompanying “Student Worksheets” guide students through different parts of the Click & Learn and ask them to reflect on the information provided. The main differences between the worksheets are summarized in the “Educator Materials,” which also provides suggestions for classroom implementation and additional background information.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

Student Learning Targets

Describe the roles of the digestive system’s major organs, including how they break down food into nutrients.
Describe the small intestine’s role in absorbing nutrients into the bloodstream.
Explain how cells can use nutrients for energy immediately or store them for later use.
Describe the overall function, inputs, and outputs of cellular respiration.

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods, depending on which sections and worksheets are used.

Key Terms

anabolism, carbohydrate, catabolism, digestion, fat, fiber, glycogen, protein, nutrient, triglyceride

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.