Breathing Without Air

Learn about an animal that does not need oxygen to survive. Model the molecular changes of cellular respiration. Investigate the products of respiration using a color-changing solution. Analyze how matter and energy flow through ecosystems.

This Launch level kit for grades 8-12 includes a full-color student workbook and a detailed teacher guide, with step-by-step instructions for both hands-on and reading-based activities designed to engage students in the cycling of matter and energy. Both teacher and student will be able to open the box and start within minutes, and the kit will provide over 15 hours of engaging learning.

In this kit, the student will engage in these hands-on learning experiences:

• Find out how some animals survive with little to no oxygen.
• Make a model to examine the differences between body-level and cellular-level respiration.
• Change the color of a solution to show how carbon moves through Earth’s spheres.
• Analyze how energy moves through ecosystems using pebbles.
• Evaluate case studies showing changes to various ecosystems.

Use the Breathing Without Air kit to answer questions such as:

• How does respiration help organisms survive?
• How do matter and energy change during respiration?
• What are the ways in which carbon moves through the environment?
• How do energy and matter move through ecosystems?
• What factors determine how ecosystems respond to change?

Your student is ready for this kit when:

• They have some experience with how organisms are classified into kingdoms.
• They know organisms must take in nutrients and release waste.
• They have previous experience in identifying connections between ecosystems, energy, and populations of organisms.
• They are familiar with representing chemical reactions at a particle level using written and hands-on models.

The following are Science Unlocked kits we suggest your student has completed prior to doing this kit:

• Throwing Shade Balls
• Seeking Survival
• Hungry for Change
• Contain Your Excitement

Breathing Without Air kit is a part of the Science Unlocked Launch series and is recommended middle and high school students in grades 8-12.

Interested in learning more? Check out our Student Workbook Sample and Teacher Guide Sample!  

More Information

• Safety Information (SDS)

Items included in the kit:

• 1 Bromothymol Blue
• 1 Calcium Chloride
• 1 Card Stock Sheet
• 1 Pair of Gloves
• 1 Pebbles
• 6 Plastic Graduated Cup
• 1 Stirring Rod
• 6 Orange Pop Beads
• 12 Purple Pop Beads
• 18 Yellow Pop Beads
• 1 Safety Glasses
• 1 Sodium Carbonate
• 3 Straw
• 1 Vinegar

Other items needed:

• Ballpoint Pen or Pencil
• Water

• Learning outcome: Learn how energy and matter cycle through organisms during respiration, with and without oxygen.
• NGSS science standards alignment
• HS-LS1-7 Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.
• HS-LS2-3 Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
• HS-LS2-4 Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
• HS-LS2-5 Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere.
• HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.