Getting to Know the Carbon Cycle and the Greenhouse Effect Summary: Today’s lesson focuses on the different forms carbon takes, how carbon dioxide’s relationship with temperature is what makes Earth habitable (thank you, greenhouse effect!), and gives students an analogy to help them better understand impacts of increased carbon dioxide levels. Lesson Components:
Teacher’s Homework:
Other Helpful Lesson-Specific Info: Carbon dioxide gas is not inherently bad. Without carbon dioxide, the earth’s ability to trap heat would be significantly reduced, and earth would be uninhabitable. Carbon dioxide is also not the only greenhouse gas. Other naturally occurring molecules (like water vapor) and man-made molecules contribute to the atmosphere’s ability to trap heat. Lesson set-up: This lesson requires 7 stations, each equip with a dice and the station “roll sheet”. Students will need a copy of the provided Carbon Cycle Data Table. It also requires that images and videos be loaded prior to class.
Activity: The Carbon Cycle Game **Adapted from https://climatechangelive.org/img/fck/file/carbon_cycle_game.pdf (by Jennifer Ceven, Grade 6 Science Teacher) Purpose: In playing a game where students actually get to “be” the carbon, the goal is for students to recognize how important carbon is in the biosphere, how it is part of a time-sensitive process, and how humans have changed the process since they started burning fossil fuels. Set-Up: The carbon cycle game requires that stations be set up around the room with labels and dice prior to the start of class. All materials are located in the folder, with the exception of enough copies of data tables for students. All students will be on their feet, so be sure to place stations far enough apart that students will not be too crowded. For the first round, the signs (atmosphere, plants, animals, soil, surface ocean, deep ocean, fossil fuels) need to be placed around the room with their “roll sheet” (the sheet that tells students where to move to after they roll a certain number) and a die. For the second round, the same signs need to stay placed around the room, but the “roll sheet” at the FOSSIL FUELS station needs to be swapped out with the one labeled as “Fossil Fuels Post-Industrial Revolution.” Procedure:
After the 1st Round, regroup as a class. This can be as in-depth of a conversation as you would like it to be.
Transitioning to the 2nd Round...
Conduct a second round of the game the exact same way. Ask the same follow-up questions. Other ideas to ponder with your students:
The Carbon Cycle Game: You are currently a molecule of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If you roll... Then you ... 1 Stay in the atmosphere. Much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere moves through the atmosphere. 2 Go to plant. You are used by a plant in photosynthesis. 3 Stay in the atmosphere. Much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere moves through the atmosphere. 4 Stay in the atmosphere. Much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere circulates through the atmosphere. 5 Go to surface ocean. 6 Go to plant. You are used by a plant in photosynthesis. PLANTS You are currently a carbon molecule in the structure of the plant. If you roll... Then you ... 1 Go to soil. The tree shed its leaves. 2 Stay in plant. You are a carbon molecule in the tree’s trunk. 3 Go to animal. The leaves and berries that the plant produced contain your carbon molecule and were eaten. 4 Stay in plant. You are a carbon molecule in the tree’s roots. 5 Stay in plant. You are a carbon molecule in the tree’s branches. 6 Stay in plant. You are a carbon molecule in the tree’s trunk.
You are currently a molecule of carbon in an animal. If you roll... Then you ... 1 Stay in animal. The carbon molecule is stored as fat in the animal. 2 Go to soil. The animal that consumed you died and your carbon molecule is returned to the soil. 3 Go to atmosphere. The animal that consumed you respired (breathed) you out as carbon dioxide. 4 Stay in animal. You are eaten by a predator. 5 Go to atmosphere. The animal that consumed you respired (breathed) you out as carbon dioxide. 6 Go to atmosphere. The animal that consumed you respired (breathed) you out as carbon dioxide. SOIL If you roll... Then you ... 1 Stay in the soil. Much of the carbon in the soil is stored there. 2 Go to plant. You are used by a plant in photosynthesis. 3 Go to fossil fuels. Your carbon molecule has been in the soil so long it turns into fossil fuels. 4 Go to the atmosphere. 5 Stay in the soil. 6 Go to fossil fuels. Your carbon molecule has been in the soil so long that it turns into fossil fuels. SURFACE OCEAN You are currently a molecule of carbon dioxide in the surface ocean. If you roll... Then you ... 1 Go to deep ocean. 2 Stay in the surface ocean. 3 Go to deep ocean. Your carbon atom was part of an ocean organism that has died and has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. 4 Stay in the surface ocean. 5 Go to the atmosphere. 6 Go to the atmosphere. DEEP OCEAN If you roll... Then you ... 1 Stay in the deep ocean. 2 Stay in the deep ocean. 3 Go to surface ocean. 4 Go to surface ocean. 5 Go to surface ocean. 6 Go to animal. An organism in the water has taken you up as food in the deep ocean. FOSSIL FUELS Fossil fuels are a rich source of energy that has been created from carbon that has been stored for many millions of years. If you roll... Then you ... 1 Stay in the fossil fuels. 2 Stay in the fossil fuels. 3 Stay in the fossil fuels. 4 Stay in the fossil fuels. 5 Go to the atmosphere. Humans have pumped the fuel that you are part of out of the ground and have used it to power their cars. 6 Go to the atmosphere. FOSSIL FUELS **POST-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION**
Name: The Carbon Cycle Game DATA RECORD SHEET Record the places you have traveled as a carbon molecule BEFORE the Industrial Revolution.
Where did you spend the most time? Where did other people in class spend the most time? Record the places you have traveled as a carbon molecule AFTER the Industrial Revolution.
Where did you spend the most time? Where did other people in class spend the most time? What was different about this round of the carbon game? How did humans influence the carbon cycle after they started burning fossil fuels?
Activity: Carbon dioxide-temperature comparison graph debrief Purpose: The goal of this activity is to help students see the role carbon dioxide plays in the atmosphere. In looking at the correlation between carbon dioxide levels and temperature, students should be able to recognize that carbon dioxide helps trap heat. Set-Up: Please pull up the link below http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/co2-and-rising-global-temperatures Procedure:
Activity: Mini-Lesson on the Greenhouse Effect Purpose: The Greenhouse Effect explains why carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. It explains why life on earth is possible, but also how fossil fuel combustion has made climate more unpredictable. Set-Up: The following links below are all resources to aid in your explanation of the Greenhouse Effect. Whichever ones you decide to use should be loaded prior to class. Procedure: Give students a mini-lesson explaining the greenhouse effect. To aid in your explanation, below you will find 3 resources. https://ourclimateourfuture.org/video/chapter-4/
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/Climate%20Change%20in%20the%20Windy%20CIty%20and%20the%20World_web1017.pdf
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/Climate%20Change%20in%20the%20Windy%20CIty%20and%20the%20World_web1017.pdf
Activity: Carbon Dioxide as Atmospheric Steroids Purpose: This video highlights some important info about the nature of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases by making an analogy to baseball players taking steroids. Set-Up: Before class, please visit http://gettingthepicture.info/5/, and load the “Steroids, Baseball and Climate Change” video, located in section 5.2. Procedure:
Key ideas you want your student to take away from the video:
*If time is running short, this can be an exit slip and can be reviewed in the beginning of class tomorrow. |
Last updated: March 26, 2020