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SavannahYear 8
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ScienceLife processes25 min★★ difficulty

Respiration: the reaction happening in you right now

Respiration is not breathing. Breathing moves air; respiration is a chemical reaction inside every living cell that releases the energy those cells run on.

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 it is not optional

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 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 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

Respiration: the reaction happening in you right now

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 16

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 16

Learn

Aerobic respiration

glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water. This happens continuously in cells, releasing energy for movement, growth, warmth and every other chemical process life needs. Cells that work hard, such as muscle and liver cells, contain many mitochondria.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Anaerobic respiration

When oxygen cannot arrive fast enough, human muscle cells switch to glucose → lactic acid. Far less energy is released per glucose molecule, and lactic acid builds up. Yeast follows a different anaerobic route: glucose → ethanol + carbon dioxide, which is why bread rises.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

What is the word equation for aerobic respiration?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

What does human anaerobic respiration produce?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

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
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Why it is not optional

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

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Why it is not optional

Without respiration a cell cannot build proteins, pump substances across membranes or repair itself. Every other life process is paid for by the energy respiration releases.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 16

Quick check

Which cells contain the most mitochondria?

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

Why is respiration described as necessary for other life processes?

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 16

Worked example

Worked example: the end of a sprint

A sprinter's legs ache and their breathing stays fast after finishing. Explanation: during the sprint, oxygen delivery lagged behind demand, so muscles respired anaerobically and lactic acid built up. Continued deep breathing supplies the oxygen needed to break that lactic acid down, which is why recovery breathing outlasts the race.

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

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

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Yeast follows a different ____ route: glucose → ethanol + carbon dioxide, which is why bread rises.

Without ____ a cell cannot build proteins, pump substances across membranes or repair itself.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Respiration: the reaction happening in you right now

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

  1. 1. What is the word equation for aerobic respiration?

  2. 2. What does human anaerobic respiration produce?

  3. 3. Which cells contain the most mitochondria?

  4. 4. Why is respiration described as necessary for other life processes?

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 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 16 · 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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