SC15.5.10

Science (2015) Grade(s): 5

Developing and Using Models

Energy and Matter

Students know:

The energy released [from] food was once energy from the sun that was captured by plants in the chemical process that forms plant matter (from air and water).
Food provides animals with the materials they need for body repair and growth and the energy they need to maintain body warmth and for motion.

Students are able to:

Use models to describe a phenomenon that includes the idea that energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun. Students identify and describe the components of the model that are relevant for describing the phenomenon, including the following:
- Energy.
- The sun.
- Animals, including their bodily functions (e.g., body repair, growth, motion, body warmth maintenance).
- Plants.
Identify and describe the relevant relationships between components, including the following:
- The relationship between plants and the energy they get from sunlight to produce food.
- The relationship between food and the energy and materials that animals require for bodily functions (e.g., body repair, growth, motion, body warmth maintenance).
- The relationship between animals and the food they eat, which is either other animals or plants (or both), to obtain energy for bodily functions and materials for growth and repair.
Use the models to describe causal accounts of the relationships between energy from the sun and animals' needs for energy, including that:
- Since all food can eventually be traced back to plants, all of the energy that animals use for body repair, growth, motion, and body warmth maintenance is energy that once came from the sun.
- Energy from the sun is transferred to animals through a chain of events that begins with plants producing food then being eaten by animals.

Students understand that:

Food for Life