Topic-+Matter+and+Energy+in+Living+Systems

Topic: Matter and Energy in Living Systems
Below is a list of key ideas related to Matter and Energy in Living Systems. For each key idea, you will find a list of sub-ideas, a list of items, results from our field testing, and a list of student misconceptions. After clicking on a tab, click on it again to close the tab.

All organisms need food as a source of molecules that provide chemical energy and building materials.
//Students are expected to know that:// //Boundaries://
 * [|Sub-Ideas]
 * [|Items & Student Performance]
 * [|Misconceptions]
 * 1) Food consists of carbon-containing molecules in which carbon atoms are linked to other carbon atoms.
 * 2) Carbon-containing molecules serve as the building materials that all organisms (including plants and animals) use for growth, repair, and replacement of body parts (such as leaves, stems, roots, bones, skin, muscles, and the cells that make up these structures) and provide the chemical energy needed to carry out life functions.
 * 3) If substances do not provide both chemical energy and building material, then they are not food for an organism.
 * 4) Chemical energy from carbon-containing molecules is the only form of energy that organisms can use for carrying out life functions.
 * 5) Carbohydrates (including simple sugars and starch), fats, and proteins are molecules that are food.
 * 6) Light is not food because it is not made of atoms and therefore cannot provide building material, and even though substances such as water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and various minerals provide atoms for building materials for some types of organisms, they are not food because they do not contain carbon atoms that are linked to other carbon atoms and cannot be used as a source of chemical energy.
 * 1) The idea that there are other atoms besides carbon (mainly hydrogen and oxygen atoms) in carbon-containing molecules that are used as food is not part of this key idea.
 * 2) Students are not expected to know what chemical energy is other than it resides in the molecules of substances.
 * 3) Although students are expected to know that any molecule with carbon atoms linked to other carbon atoms could be food for organisms, they are not expected to know which of these other carbon-containing molecules are or are not food for any particular type of organism.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)||~ Item ID Number ||~ Knowledge Being Assessed 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 ||~ Select This Item for My Item Bank ||
 * ~ Grades
 * [|ME160001] || [|Food is anything that is a source of both energy and building materials for plants and animals.] || 63% || 71% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/2067"]] ||
 * [|ME100002] || [|Children need food as a source of energy and as a source of material for building or repairing body structures such as muscles.] || 66% || 71% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1582"]] ||
 * [|ME098002] || [|Animals and plants need food as a source of energy and as a source of material for building body parts, such as muscles in animals and leaves in plants.] || 60% || 63% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1580"]] ||
 * [|ME161001] || [|A solution of sugar water is a source of food because the sugar in the solution is a source of energy and building materials.] || 49% || 60% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/2068"]] ||
 * [|ME104002] || [|Fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are sources of food for animals, but minerals are not.] || 52% || 53% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1819"]] ||
 * [|ME149001] || [|Milk is food for people because food is something that provides energy and building materials, and milk provides energy and building materials.] || 44% || 58% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1587"]] ||
 * [|ME106003] || [|Molecules made of several carbon atoms linked to each other and to hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be food for plants (item uses molecular models).] || 45% || 55% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1815"]] ||
 * [|ME150001] || [|Fat is a source of food for animals.] || 40% || 51% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1588"]] ||
 * [|ME147003] || [|Molecules made of several carbon atoms linked to each other and to hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be food for plants.] || 37% || 39% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1817"]] ||
 * [|ME147001] || [|Molecules made of several carbon atoms linked to each other and to hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be food for plants.] || 37% || N/A || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1585"]] ||
 * [|ME159001] || [|Water is not a souce of food for plants and animals because food must contain molecules that have carbon atoms linked to other carbon atoms, and water molecules do not have carbon atoms linked to other carbon atoms.] || 16% || 33% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/2066"]] ||

Frequency of selecting a misconception||~ Misconception ID Number 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 || Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
 * ~ Student Misconception ||~ Grades
 * [|MEM119] || [|Water is food for plants (Horizon, n.d.; Lee & Diong, 1999; Vaz et al., 1997, Wandersee, 1983).] || 69% || 57% ||
 * [|MEM120] || [|Water is food for animals (Horizon, n.d.; Lee & Diong).] || 38% || 33% ||
 * [|MEM122] || [|Minerals are food for animals (Horizon, n.d.).] || 25% || 22% ||
 * [|MEM102] || [|Food is a source of energy but not a source of building materials (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 17% || 15% ||
 * [|MEM003] || [|Food is what is needed to keep animals and plants alive (Leach et al., 1992; Lee & Diong, 1999; Roth & Anderson, 1987) or grow (Anderson et al., 1990) without reference to any more specific function of food.] || 13% || 11% ||
 * [|MEM067] || [|Liquids cannot be food (Lee & Diong 1999).] || 14% || 9% ||
 * [|MEM103] || [|Food is a source of building materials, but not a source of energy (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 12% || 11% ||
 * [|MEM002] || [|Food is any material (water, air, minerals, etc.) that organisms take in from their environment (Anderson et al., 1990; Simpson & Arnold, 1982; Roth & Anderson, 1987).] || 11% || 8% ||
 * [|MEM098] || [|Food must enter an animal's body through its mouth, otherwise it is not food (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 10% || 7% ||
 * [|MEM071] || [|Oxygen supplies energy for animals (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 8% || 6% ||

Plants make their own food in the form of sugar molecules from carbon dioxide molecules and water molecules. In the process of making sugar molecules, oxygen molecules are produced as well.
//Students are expected to know that:// //Boundaries://
 * [|Sub-Ideas]
 * [|Items & Student Performance]
 * [|Misconceptions]
 * 1) Unlike animals, plants do not take in food from their environment.
 * 2) Plants make their own food in the form of sugar molecules by means of a chemical reaction between carbon dioxide molecules and water molecules. Oxygen molecules are also a product of this reaction.
 * 3) The process of making sugar molecules involves linking together carbon atoms that come from molecules of carbon dioxide.
 * 4) The chemical reactions by which sugars are made takes place inside the plants. In most familiar land plants, the carbon dioxide molecules that are used come from the air that enters the plant primarily through its leaves, and that the water molecules that are used in the reaction enter the plant through its roots.
 * 1) Although there may be limited exceptions to the generalization that unlike animals, plants do not take in food from their environment, students are not expected to be aware of those exceptions.
 * 2) The items do not assess knowledge of any of the chemical structures or formulas of any of the reactants or products either of the overall chemical reaction or of any of the intermediate steps, such as light-dependent and light-independent reactions.
 * 3) The items do not assess exceptions to the expected knowledge: that some plants, such as cacti and some other desert plants do not take in carbon dioxide through their leaves but through their stems, that some plants, such as parasitic plants, do not make their own food and obtain some or all of their food by attaching to the stems or roots of other organisms, or that in addition to plants there are other types of organisms, such as many micro-organisms, that are able to make their own food.
 * 4) The items do not assess the idea that light is involved in the synthesis of sugars from carbon dioxide and water.
 * 5) The items do not use the terms producer, consumer, photosynthesis, organic, or inorganic.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)||~ Item ID Number ||~ Knowledge Being Assessed 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 ||~ Select This Item for My Item Bank ||
 * ~ Grades
 * [|ME095004] || [|The sugar molecules in plants are made by the plants.] || 38% || 42% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1821"]] ||
 * [|ME095005] || [|The sugar molecules in plants are the result of a chemical reaction.] || 31% || 41% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1822"]] ||
 * [|ME029006] || [|A plant makes its food from carbon dioxide and water.] || 33% || 40% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1595"]] ||
 * [|ME109003] || [|Plants use sugars that they make as food.] || 22% || 27% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1957"]] ||
 * [|ME095006] || [|The sugar molecules in plants are made of carbon atoms linked to other carbon atoms.] || 25% || 22% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1823"]] ||

Frequency of selecting a misconception||~ Misconception ID Number 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 || Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
 * ~ Student Misconception ||~ Grades
 * [|MEM123] || [|Substances in soil are food for plants (Kuech et al., 2003; Leach et al., 1992; Simpson & Arnold, 1982; Stavy et al., 1987; Tamir, 1989, Wandersee, 1983).] || 72% || 68% ||
 * [|MEM012] || [|Plants have multiple food sources, not just the sugars that they make from water and carbon dioxide (Anderson et al., 1990, Roth & Anderson, 1987).] || 40% || 39% ||
 * [|MEM013] || [|Food enters a plant through the roots (Anderson et al., 1990; Roth & Anderson, 1987; Simpson & Arnold, 1982; Vaz et al., 1997; Wandersee, 1983).] || 36% || 32% ||
 * [|MEM082] || [|Plants make sugars from minerals (Tamir, 1989) or minerals and water (AAAS pilot data 2006).] || 21% || 20% ||
 * [|MEM014] || [|Plants get organic food substances such as starch and sugar (Stavy et al., 1987) or protein (Wandersee, 1983) from the soil.] || 13% || 7% ||

Animals use carbon-containing molecules from food to make a variety of other carbon-containing molecules that become part of their body structures.
//Students are expected to know that:// //Boundaries://
 * [|Sub-Ideas]
 * [|Items & Student Performance]
 * [|Misconceptions]
 * 1) Growth, repair, and replacement of body structures **involves using carbon-containing molecules (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) from food to make other carbohydrate, fat, and protein molecules that become part of their body structures.**
 * 2) Growth of animals requires the addition of molecules made up of linked carbon atoms to body structures, and this is the only way that body structures can grow.
 * 3) The processes by which molecules from food become part of an animal’s body structures involve chemical reactions in which the atoms of the molecules from food (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) are rearranged to form new molecules of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up the body structures. The carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that animals eat do not get incorporated into body structures without first going through a chemical reaction.
 * 4) Unlike plants, animals cannot link carbon atoms from carbon dioxide to make sugars or any other molecule made of linked carbon atoms.
 * 1) **“Body structures” include any organ, tissue, or part of an organism with which students are likely to be familiar.**
 * 2) **Students are not expected to know that muscles are made largely of protein molecules, fat tissue is made largely of fat molecules, or that the skeletons of insects, lobsters, and crabs are made largely of carbohydrate molecules.**
 * 3) Students are not expected to know the chemical or structural formulas of carbohydrates, proteins, or fats.
 * 4) This idea does not include the synthesis of carbohydrates, fat, and proteins from their sub-units.
 * 5) The idea that simple sugars are the “building blocks” of complex carbohydrates, that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and that fatty acids are the building blocks of fats are covered in Benchmark 6C/M2 (which is about digestion), not this key idea.
 * 6) The idea that carbon, because of its small size and four available bonding electrons can join to several other carbon atoms in chains and rings to form large and complex molecules is part of Benchmark 5C/H8, not this key idea.
 * 7) Students are not expected to know the identity of atoms other than carbon that are contributed by carbohydrates, fats, and proteins from food to the molecules that make up body structures.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)||~ Item ID Number ||~ Knowledge Being Assessed 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 ||~ Select This Item for My Item Bank ||
 * ~ Grades
 * [|ME032005] || [|As an animal grows, some of the food it eats is changed into new substances that become part of the animal's body.] || 9% || 9% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1639"]] ||

Frequency of selecting a misconception||~ Misconception ID Number 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 || Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
 * ~ Student Misconception ||~ Grades
 * [|MEM100] || [|Food does not become part of the body. Instead food is used for energy, and the part that is not used for energy is eliminated as waste (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 59% || 68% ||
 * [|MEM059] || [|Food is turned into energy and is used up in the process (Smith & Anderson, 1986).] || 15% || 12% ||
 * [|MEM076] || [|Food is simply converted into waste materials and eliminated from the body (Smith & Anderson, 1986).] || 16% || 11% ||

All organisms, including plants and animals, have mechanisms for storing molecules from food for later use.
//Students are expected to know that:// //Boundaries://
 * [|Sub-Ideas]
 * [|Items & Student Performance]
 * [|Misconceptions]
 * 1) Some of the carbon-containing molecules that become part of an animal’s or plant’s body structures can be used later (as a source of chemical energy or building materials).
 * 2) Molecules typically used for storage include fats (in both plants and animals) and some carbohydrates, such as starch (in plants).
 * 3) Molecules used for storage are often stored in specialized structures. Specialized structures for food include fat tissue in animals and seeds in plants, both of which store fat molecules; and seeds, bulbs, and some roots in plants, all of which store starch molecules.
 * 1) Items do not assess knowledge of other storage molecules such as triglycerides or glycogen or the chemical or structural formulas of any storage molecules.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)||~ Item ID Number ||~ Knowledge Being Assessed 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 ||~ Select This Item for My Item Bank ||
 * ~ Grades
 * [|ME013008] || [|Both plants and animals store molecules from food they eat to use later as a source of chemical energy and building materials.] || 51% || 60% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1667"]] ||
 * [|ME153004] || [|Fat tissue in animals, bulbs in plants, and seeds in plants are structures that are used to store molecules from food.] || 54% || N/A || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1673"]] ||
 * [|ME153002] || [|Fat tissue in animals, bulbs in plants, and seeds in plants are structures that are used to store molecules from food.] || 38% || 45% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1671"]] ||
 * [|ME153003] || [|Fat tissue in animals, bulbs in plants, and seeds in plants are structures that are used to store molecules from food.] || 38% || 34% || [[image:http://assessment.aaas.org/img/star_16x16_grey.png link="http://assessment.aaas.org/users/itembank/add/1672"]] ||

Frequency of selecting a misconception||~ Misconception ID Number 6–8 ||~ Grades 9–12 || Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.
 * ~ Student Misconception ||~ Grades
 * [|MEM126] || [|Molecules from food are not stored in the bulbs of plants.] || 53% || 60% ||
 * [|MEM125] || [|Molecules from food are not stored in the seeds of plants.] || 25% || 28% ||
 * [|MEM128] || [|Animals cannot store molecules from food in their bodies (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 29% || 20% ||
 * [|MEM127] || [|Molecules from food are not stored in the fat tissue of animals.] || 33% || 20% ||
 * [|MEM129] || [|Plants cannot store molecules from food in their body structures (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).] || 27% || 26% ||

==== All organisms need food as a source of molecules that provide chemical energy and building materials. -and- Plants make their own food in the form of sugar molecules from carbon dioxide molecules and water molecules. In the process of making sugar molecules, oxygen molecules are produced as well. ====
 * [|Sub-Ideas]
 * [|Items & Student Performance]
 * [|Misconceptions]