One Giant Leaf for Mankind is a project-based STEM activity that explores photosynthesis and will engage your students in the engineering design process while using TI-Nspire™ technology. and the TI-Innovator™ Hub.

Students will research science topics including:

• Energy and material flow in photosynthesis
• Cellular organelles in plants
• The effects of light brightness and plant surface area have on plant energy production.

• Chloroplast and Mitochondria
• Photosynthesis
• Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, Water, Sugar and Energy
• Light intensity (lux)
• Light sensor

Your students are asked to play the role of a horticultural engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) who has been researching food production for extended space exploration missions. Students will design and build a space-based greenhouse model in order to conduct a simple experiment using the scientific method while learning about photosynthesis and plant cell structure.

As a result, students will: 

• Use the model to investigate how the plant surface area and light brightness affect how fast energy (stored in yams) is produced.
• Will use mathematical processes of:
  • Area of a rectangle
  • Slope of a line
  • Interpreting graphs
  • Proportional reasoning