Exploring your world: Do plants eat?
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EmailHave you ever wondered If plants eat or how they eat?
The Michigan State University Extension science team’s goal is to increase STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) literacy across Michigan. One way to increase interest in STEM is to provide information and ideas for engaging youth in the exploration of their world.
Have you ever wondered, do plants eat?
Ask youth in your life, “Do plants eat?” The quick answer is likely to be “yes,” followed by a hesitant “no” and then a “maybe.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, eat means to put food into your mouth, chew and swallow it. But the word “eat” is often used differently in conversations. Like, “You need to eat so you’ll have energy to run around and play.” Or, “So you’ll grow up big and strong.” The word “eat” is used to mean consuming and converting food into the energy needed to grow and move.
The processes that break down foods to be used by bodies are metabolic pathways. A common metabolic pathway is cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is the pathway that breaks food, such as carbohydrates, into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is a high-energy molecule used throughout human bodies, especially muscles. ATP is also necessary for plants and animals to grow.
In elementary school, students are taught that plants are producers and make their own food. Plants also make many of the foods people eat, like potatoes, strawberries and watermelon. To learn more about what plants use to make their own food, check out the article, Where do trees get their mass form?
Plants grow, so they must eat. But what do plants eat? Plants eat the food they make. The reason plants are producers is not for the survival of people; they make their own food for their own survival.
When a couple of youth were asked “Do plants eat?” they offered a hesitant “yes” and then explained the whole process of a plant making its food through photosynthesis and storing it to use later in the process of cellular respiration to grow and reproduce. One used the idea of a refrigerator. They explained plants make their own food, store it, sort of like people do in a refrigerator, until they need it. Then plants eat it, using the energy within the food to survive and grow.
Asking questions is one way to help youth explore and deepen their understanding of their world. As an educator, I gain new perspectives of my world as I discover how youth understand their world.
