The topic I have chosen to study is energy transfer.
My original inspiration for this perceiving activity was an image that depicted the process of photosynthesis taking place. The image is below.
Now this image (or one very similar) is in just about every life science book that has been published since the late 1700's. It is a well known, established representation of energy transfer in plants.
My task was to observe this image with all 5 senses. This turned out to be more difficult that previously thought. I found myself, quickly leaning towards observing an actual plant. (an ever-bearing rose bush)
Still falling under the photosynthesis category, I observed both the image and plant. I looked at both trying to see photosynthesis taking place, but failed. I felt the leaves and peddles of the roses. They were both soft and scratchy, smooth and rough. I smelled the roses (yum!!) and the image (yuck!!), and I attempted to listen to see if I could hear photosynthesis occurring, but was unsuccessful...again... :-). I finally did taste both a leaf and a piece of the image and both were less than satisfying to my taste buds.
After my observations, I felt that re-imaging the image as a song seemed to be intriguing so I followed my creativity and produced this fine masterpiece (chuckle, chuckle...)
Photosynthesis Song
Lyrics to the song
Plants are here
And plants are there
Plants you see are everywhere
They do a great thing that’s really cool dude,
They turn water, sunlight and CO2 into food
It’s called photosynthesis,
It takes water, sunlight and CO2
And makes lots of things including food
Oxygens made but the plant doesn’t use it
So it’s released so our lungs can move it
It’s called photosynthesis
Plants have things called chloroplasts
They make it green and that’s a blast
But you have to go in deeper for a thrill
To get right to the chlorophyll
In these little energy cells,
sunlight smashes water like a bombshell
This causes the making of ATP
Which is also called a form of energy
The ATP travels to a place
Where light really loses every race
It’s called photosynthesis,
It takes water, sunlight and CO2
And makes lots of things including food
Oxygens made but the plant doesn’t use it
So it’s released so our lungs can move it
It’s called photosynthesis
This dark place, called the Calvin cycle you see
It’s where CO2 is used by ATP
When Calvin’s done, he’s made a carbohydrate.
Carbs are energy
plants need on a date!
Not only is this the basis for life
But it also helps us sleep at night
Without the plants photosynthesizing
We would all have to say some final goodbyeing
It’s called photosynthesis,
It takes water, sunlight and CO2
And makes lots of things including food
Oxygens made but the plant doesn’t use it
So it’s released so our lungs can move it
It’s called photosynthesis
The process of re-imaging my image was enjoyable. I found myself working on the lyrics whenever possible (at work, at home, in bed, etc.). Not that they are anything special, it was just fun to represent that image as a song. The recording process was fun as well. I used Audacity to record and edit my recording and then uploaded my file to Ujam.com where I was able to add music to my voice and finalize the song. All-in-all it was a great learning opportunity of two software's I have had little exposure to. I found myself having a clearer and deeper understanding of photosynthesis because of the song.
How does this impact my topic? Understanding that song lyrics stay with us for a very long time (some, our whole life) was very influential in my decision to create a song to help understand one aspect of energy transfer (photosynthesis). Although I feel studying an image of photosynthesis will help learn the process of energy transfer, writing a song will help solidify their understanding if they in turn create a song themselves. It also exposes the students to technologies that they otherwise may never have used.
