Chemistry Lesson Plan

Class: Honors Chemistry 101

Grade Level: Sophomores (10th grade)

Unit: Macromolecules

Teacher: Ms. Sarah Zellmann

Objectives
I can identify the four macromolecules carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids
based on their structure.
I can describe the basic functions of the four macromolecules.

Essential Question
Why are macromolecules important in science?

Anticipatory Set
(10 min)
***Assuming there are 20 students in the class
Before the students arrive, there will be 4 posters in each corner of the room with a
picture of one of the macromolecules on it (shown in Materials section below). The “I
can” statements will be written on the board. Also, 20 sticky notes will be labeled:
 5 will say “carbohydrate”
 5 will say “protein”
 5 will say “lipid”
 5 will say “nucleic acid”
Students will be handed a sticky note as they walk in and they are told to put their things
down at their desk and to place their sticky note on whichever poster they think is that
macromolecule. Once all the students have placed their sticky note, bring the posters to
the front board and stick them up there so they can all be side by side for the class to see.
Ask the class “What are these four things categorized as?” (Answer: macromolecules).
Ask the class to raise their hand and tell what was written on their sticky note. Write each
response on the board so you have “carbohydrate, lipid, protein, nucleic acid” written on
the board.
Point to the first poster and tell the class what the majority of the sticky notes say. Tell
them to talk with their neighbor for 30 seconds and tell them what you think the
macromolecule actually is. Call on someone until the correct answer is given. Label that
macromolecule. Repeat this until each molecule is labeled.

Teaching: Activities
Activity #1: Group Discussion (15 minutes)
 Tell the class that we are going to have a group discussion and it might be a good
idea to take some notes.
 Go back to the first macromolecule poster. Give the class a minute to discuss each
molecule as you go and ask the class to talk to their neighbor and come up with an
idea about:
o What might you eat that contains this molecule?
o Why is this molecule important to ingest?
  Explain the answer after calling randomly on a pair each time to share their
thoughts
o Possible answers:
 Carbohydrates are in breads and sugars, they give you energy
 Proteins are in meats, they have many functions with enzymes all
over your body
 Lipids are in fatty foods, they give you long term stored energy
 Nucleic acids are in your cells, they are genetic code for life
 Once all four posters have been discussed, go back to the first poster and
randomly call on a students and ask “What do you observe about this
macromolecule’s structure?” Allow them a minute to talk to their neighbor before
calling on a random pair.
o Possible answers:
 Carbohydrates are made up of lots of C, chains, rings
 Proteins are random and folded
 Lipids have a bilayer, 2 rows
 Nucleic acids are long chains of bases
 Then ask the students “How do you think the structural components of each
macromolecule effect its role in the body?” Allow them a minute to talk to their
neighbor before calling on a random pair.
o Possible answers:
 Carbohydrates are thin, easily broken for quick energy use
 Proteins have many functions so they can look random
 Lipids have a lipid bilayer to control what goes into and out of the
cell
 Nucleic acids change their code depending on which protein needs
to be made

Activity #2: Video & Brief Discussion (20 min)

 Tell the students to put technology away. Pass out a note sheet (shown in
Materials section below) to each student and tell them to write down information
they learned from the video. Play the video.
o Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8WJ2KENlK0
 After watching the video, project the student note sheet up on the white board.
Ask students to raise their hand and to tell them something they wrote down on
their sheet. If it is correct information, write it on the board. Have about 5 things
written in each category before moving on to Activity #3.

Activity #3: Transition to Group Worksheet (5 min)

 Tell the students to recall the name of their first pet. If anyone says they’ve never
had a pet just tell them to think of a name they would give their pet if they got
one. Have the students stand up and without talking align themselves in a row.
This row should be alphabetical order of the first letter of their first pet’s name.
Give the students 2-3 minutes to do this. Once they are all stopped moving ask to
go down the line and say the name so the class can see if they did the task
correctly.
 Number off the students 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and tell them to go sit with their group
members. There will end up being 2 groups of 4 and 4 groups of 3.
Activity #4: Group worksheet (25 min)
 Give each student a Macromolecule food worksheet (shown in Materials section
below). Tell students to use prior knowledge of food components as well as the
knowledge they just learned from class to label what parts of each food fit into a
macromolecule category. They have 25 minutes to work on the worksheet and
whatever they don’t finish is for homework.
 Walk around the classroom to gage how students are doing with the worksheet.
With groups who might be slow or not collaborating, prompt them with some
discussion questions or thoughts. Here are some examples…
o What are the components of pizza? Break down each ingredient and
discuss what the students know about it.
o How does this food taste in your mouth when you eat it? How might that
clue you in as to what you should categorize?
o Do you think all macromolecules are in each of these food items? Does
that seem likely or possible? Could one ingredient/component be
classified containing multiple macromolecules?
 Warn the student when they have 10, 5, and 1 minutes left to work.

Closure
(15 min)
Formative Assessment- Tell the students to pull out their laptops and go to the link
below. Tell them they have 15 minutes to create a mind map of what they learned today
about the four macromolecules. They need to make 1 graphic organizer with at least 3
things related to each macromolecule. (An example is shown in Materials section, but the
students will not be shown the example) Tell them that it will be a 12 point participation
assignment and that they cannot use their notes from class. They need to finish their mind
map by the end of class, screenshot it, and email it to me to get the points. It must be
turned in by the end of the period. This information the students dump out will be a good
tell as to who is above, on, and below target for upcoming lessons.
 Website: bubbl.us

Independent Practice

Homework is only if the students didn’t finish the Macromolecule food worksheet.

Assessment

There will be a summative assessment at the end of this unit. Students will be required to
exemplify the lesson objectives in the exam. Some example questions directly related to
this lesson are below:

1. Draw a line to match the monomer on the left to the macromolecule on the right.

Fatty acids and glycerol protein

Monosaccharide lipid

Nucleotide nucleic acid

Amino acid carbohydrate

 2. Draw a line to match the monomer on the left to the polymer on the right.

Fatty acids and glycerol enzyme

Glucose triglyceride

Nucleotide starch

Amino acid DNA

Materials
Anticipatory Set:
 Macromolecule posters

 Poster Key

 Sticky notes (20)

Activity #2:
 Video (linked in section)
 Note sheets (20)
Activity #4:
 Macromolecule worksheet (20)

 Macromolecule worksheet key

Item # Item Name Carbohydrat Lipid Nucleic Protein

e Acid
1 Hamburger Bun Grease Wheat Patty
2 Milk Fat Probiotics
 3 Cherry Sugars Pit
4 Hotdog Bun Mustard Wheat Hotdog
5 Ice cream Cone Milk, cream
6 Chicken leg Batter Milk Flour Meat
7 Cheese Milk Milkfat
8 Cheerios Coating Wheat
9 Butter Fat
10 Beans Starch Seeds Greens
BONUS BONUS

Closure:
 Website (linked in section)
 Bubbl example

Duration
Anticipatory Set: 10 min
Activity #1: 15 min
Activity #2: 20 min
Activity #3: 5 min
Activity #4: 25 min
Closure: 15 min

Modified from Madeline Hunters Lesson Plan Design