Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Science
ScienceLife processes26 min★★ difficulty

Respiration: releasing energy

Every cell in every living thing needs a constant supply of energy — and respiration is the process that releases it from food.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Biology: material cycles and energy: Understand aerobic and anaerobic respiration in living organisms, including the breakdown of organic molecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand aerobic and anaerobic respiration in living organisms, including the breakdown of organic molecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life

Key learning points

  • • Aerobic respiration
  • • Anaerobic respiration
  • • Why respiration matters

This lesson at a glance

  • 26 minutes
  • 14 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

aerobicanaerobicrespirationlivingorganisms

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Respiration: releasing energy

An English teaching video on this topic from iNewittAll. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand aerobic and anaerobic respiration in living organisms, including the breakdown of organic molecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Aerobic respiration

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

Aerobic respiration

Aerobic respiration uses oxygen to fully break down glucose, releasing a large amount of energy: glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water (+ energy). It happens continuously in almost all living cells and powers processes like movement, growth and keeping warm.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Anaerobic respiration

When oxygen is in short supply, such as during intense exercise, muscle cells respire anaerobically: glucose → lactic acid (+ energy). This releases much less energy per glucose molecule and lactic acid build-up causes muscle fatigue.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

What are the products of aerobic respiration?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 14

Quick check

Why does anaerobic respiration release less energy than aerobic?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Why respiration matters

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

Why respiration matters

The energy released by respiration is used for every other chemical process needed for life, including building large molecules, moving substances against a concentration gradient, and muscle contraction. Without respiration, no other life process could continue.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 14

Quick check

What causes muscle fatigue during intense exercise?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 14

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ respiration uses oxygen to fully break down glucose, releasing a large amount of energy: glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water (+ energy).

It happens continuously in almost all ____ cells and powers processes like movement, growth and keeping warm.

The energy released by ____ is used for every other chemical process needed for life, including building large molecules, moving substances against a concentration gradient, and muscle contraction.

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Respiration: releasing energy

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What are the products of aerobic respiration?

  2. 2. Why does anaerobic respiration release less energy than aerobic?

  3. 3. What causes muscle fatigue during intense exercise?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

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Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover

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    Understand aerobic and anaerobic respiration in living organisms, including the breakdown of organic molecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life

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