Butter From Cream

LS1.A: Structure and Function

• All living things are made up of cells, which is the smallest unit that can be said to be alive. An organism may consist of one single cell (unicellular) or many different numbers and types of cells (multicellular). (MS-LS1-1) Built toward as students begin to look at the metabolism of single cell bacteria. This is complimented by needing to understand the differences in human metabolism where we see cells arranged as tissues supporting entire systems that cooperate and rely on one another.

LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms  

• Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy. Built toward the metabolism of the lactic acid bacteria, which use lactase to break down lactose into its smaller and simpler sugars glucose and galactose. The food is broken down further and transformed during their fermentation process during cheesemaking. (MS-LS1-7)
• As a result of these chemical reactions, energy is transferred from one system of interacting molecules to another and releases energy to the surrounding environment to maintain body temperature. Cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken, and new compounds are formed that can transport energy to muscles. (HS-LS1-7) Built toward as students compare the efficiency of fermentation to cellular respiration, and where is efficiency and energy lost from the system along the way? Is it escaping as heat, as gas, or storing the chemical bonds of the acid?
• LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
• Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1) Built toward lactic acid bacteria and it’s reliance on lactose as a food source and run its energy generating process of fermentation.
• In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. (MS-LS2-1)
• Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources. (MS-LS2-1) Built toward if students are able to get curious about what would happen to the bacteria without the presence of milk. What are the requirements for life and how resilient are lactic acid bacteria. Or, what happens in the cheese making process lactose had nearly been depleted by the fermentation?
• Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2) With an expanded scope, looking at the LAB in the rumen of cattle and its existence within the gut of the cow would be interesting.

LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems 

• Photosynthesis and Cellular respiration (including anaerobic processes) provide most of the energy for life processes. (HS-LS2-3) Built toward as students make sense of the products and reactants involved in fermentation carried about by the LAB to create energy for themselves. A comparison of the efficiency of the anaerobic pathway would likely have a natural fit.