How to Teach Cellular Respiration

Cellular respiration is the breakdown of sugar in a cell for energy. The process produces water and carbon dioxide as byproducts. A fun and memorable way to teach the complicated process of cellular respiration is through music. Music uses many parts of the brain and is a great way to remember important information and stimulate the right side of the brain.

Choose a song about cellular respiration that is appropriate for your grade level from a website like http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/ATP.htm. Some songs are quite complicated and should be used for middle school only.

Copy the lyric sheets. Give these to your students so they can follow along with the song.

Make a fill-in-the-blank lyric sheet for middle school students where they can listen carefully to the song and fill in key words. This will help them to pay close attention to the words.

Design your own worksheet to go with the song if you like. Make a word search or crossword puzzle using information from the song.

Allow students to make a dance or motions to go with the song. This will enhance left and right brain connections even more. Make them dance as a class or allow small learning groups to each make their own and present to the rest of the class.

Prepare for the lesson by drawing the chemical equation for photosynthesis on one side of the poster board and the equation for respiration on the other. Cut the blue paper in half and label with a large C for carbon. Cut the red paper in half and label each piece H for hydrogen. Cut the green paper and label with O for oxygen. Draw a sun on the yellow paper, draw a large + sign on one piece of white and an arrow on another piece of white paper. Write the words carbon dioxide, water, glucose and oxygen on the remaining pieces of white paper.

Find a large area such as an outside play area or field, a gym or cafeteria. A hallway will also work. Give students a piece of paper each. If you have a smaller class, you may need to give more than one paper to a student.

Hold up the poster board showing the equation for photosynthesis. Students should arrange themselves to be in position of the equation. Have the students name the molecules they have arranged themselves into.

Now flip the poster board to show the respiration equation. Students should move and now represent the substances produced by respiration and should name the new molecules. Have the students reposition themselves a third time to represent the byproducts of respiration--carbon dioxide and water.

Switch the papers the students are holding and repeat the activity until all students have had the chance to be every part or each molecule.