Lab Overviews
In Part A, students trace the pathway of carbon moving from the atmosphere into trees where carbon can be stored for hundreds to thousands of years. In Part B, students go outdoors and measure the amount of carbon in a local tree. In Part C, students learn about important biosphere processes that convert carbon compounds into new and different carbon compounds as carbon moves through the carbon cycle. Using a ball-and-stick carbon molecule kit and 3-D structures of carbon compounds, students demonstrate how carbon can bond with other atoms and create many different types of carbon compounds. In Part D, students learn about combustion, a carbon cycle process that burns fossil fuel hydrocarbons and oxygen, creating carbon dioxide gas and water as by-products. Students analyze graphs and videos to determine whether the human activity of burning fossil fuels is changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
Time Estimate: 3 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser, spreadsheet program
Show Materials Needed:
HideIn Part A of this lab, students explore the role of food webs in a subset of the natural carbon cycle by taking on the role of a carbon atom moving through a forest carbon cycle. They learn that photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition are key food web processes that move carbon from one forest reservoir to another. In Part B, students use an interactive to investigate how carbon moves throughout the global carbon cycle. In Part C, students apply system-thinking strategies to learn about the interconnectedness of the Earth system, feedback loops, and how changes in one part of the carbon cycle system can lead to other changes in the carbon cycle system.
Time Estimate: 3 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
In Part A, students learn about the basics of infrared radiation, greenhouse gas chemistry and the greenhouse effect. In Part B, students explore how historical ice core CO2 and temperature data reveal the relationship between trends in global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels over long timescales. Finally in Part C, students study current trends in CO2 by analyzing Keeling curve data and using CarbonTracker to look for similar CO2 trends around the world.
Time Estimate: 3 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access
4. Deforestation and the Carbon Cycle
In Part A of this Lab, students learn about the impact of deforestation on the carbon cycle and investigate a mini-case study on "slash and burn" farming in Central America. In Part B, students use the Global Forest Watch mapping tool to conduct their own research on changes in forest cover.
Time Estimate: 2 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access
In Part A, students explore the relationship between soil and the carbon cycle by focusing on soil carbon storage and the role of microbes in decomposition and soil respiration. Then, they design and carry out an experiment to determine how temperature affects the rate of soil respiration. Finally, students investigate what ranchers are doing to create carbon-rich healthy soil, a process that has the potential to mitigate climate change. In Part B, students learn about soil respiration dynamics in permafrost, a frozen soil with the potential to further unbalance the carbon cycle if it thaws.
Time Estimate: 3 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access
6. Oceans and the Carbon Cycle
In Part A, students will learn about the physical, chemical and biological processes that move carbon into and around the ocean with a focus on the oceanic biological pump. In Part B, students will learn about the role of phytoplankton in the ocean's uptake of carbon in greater depth by analyzing conditions and locations for its growth. They will learn about the interdependence of the nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle and how this interdependence can influence climate.
Time Estimate: 3 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access
In Part A, students learn about the pH and ocean carbonate chemistry of ocean acidification and examine time series evidence that our oceans are becoming more acidic. In Part B, students learn about the effect of ocean acidification on shell-building organisms such as oysters, lobsters and sea urchins. They use the Virtual Urchin lab, developed by Stanford University, to investigate the effects of a more acidic ocean pH on the ability of sea urchins to form their carbonate internal skeleton.
Time Estimate: 2 to 4 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access
8. Slowing Down an Amplifying Greenhouse Effect
In Part A, students learn about the role that technology can play in reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. In Part B, students take on the role of a journalist, writing a blog on a promising carbon reduction technology for WIRED, a design and technology magazine. In their research, students will evaluate the pros and cons of the technology and present their findings to their class and/or others.
Time Estimate: 1 to 2 50-minute class periods
Technology: Internet browser
Tools needed: Computer access