6 mistakes learners make with respiration, each one named and explained.
Respiration releases energy from glucose in every living cell, all the time.
Glucose or carbon dioxide alone is given where the question asks for a different product.
The same handful of substances appears on both sides of the equations, so which side is not fixed.
Question. What anaerobic respiration in muscle produces
A common answer. glucose
The answer. lactic acid
Why. Glucose is what goes in, so it cannot be what comes out.
Write the arrow first. Then nothing on the left can appear as an answer on the right.
You define respiration as breathing in and out, or say the two words mean the same thing.
Outside science lessons, respiration really is used to mean breathing.
Question. A difference between breathing and respiration
A common answer. there is no difference
The answer. breathing moves air; respiration is a reaction inside cells
Why. A plant respires and has no lungs at all.
One is a movement of air. The other is a chemical reaction.
The photosynthesis equation is given for respiration, or respiration is described as making glucose.
The two equations are near mirror images, and they are always taught side by side.
Question. The word equation for aerobic respiration
A common answer. carbon dioxide + water gives glucose + oxygen
The answer. glucose + oxygen gives carbon dioxide + water
Why. Respiration uses glucose to release energy; photosynthesis uses energy to build glucose.
One builds and one breaks down. Ask which way the energy is going.
Respiration is described as digesting food or cooling the body rather than releasing energy.
All of those happen inside a body, so any of them sounds plausible for a bodily process.
Question. The main purpose of respiration
A common answer. to digest food
The answer. to release energy from glucose
Why. Digestion happens in the gut; respiration happens inside every cell.
Digestion prepares the fuel. Respiration burns it.
Glucose to lactic acid is offered as the equation for aerobic respiration.
Both are respiration and both start with glucose, so the difference is easy to lose.
Question. Aerobic respiration
A common answer. glucose gives lactic acid
The answer. glucose + oxygen gives carbon dioxide + water
Why. Aerobic means with oxygen, so oxygen has to appear in the equation.
Look for oxygen in the equation. Its presence is what the word aerobic means.
Ethanol is given as the product of anaerobic respiration in human muscle.
Both are anaerobic respiration and both are taught in the same lesson.
Question. Anaerobic respiration in human muscle
A common answer. ethanol and carbon dioxide
The answer. lactic acid
Why. Ethanol is what yeast produces, which is why it is useful for brewing and not for people.
Ask whose cells. The organism decides the product.
WAJD spots these patterns in your child's answers and names the one behind their wrong answers, instead of just marking them wrong.