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- Nitrogen and carbon can move from one reservoir to another and that one form of C or N could be present in multiple reservoirs.
- Atmospheric nitrogen is only available to a select few organisms.
- The largest “surface” reservoir of carbon is the ocean.
- Humans have altered the natural balance of the C and N cycles.
- Day 1: Nitrogen Game.
- Day 2: Carbon Game.
- Day 3: Carbon Cycle Activity.
- Day 4: Additional Activity – Carbon Cycle, Climate and Oceans.
- The activities were designed for 9th grade earth science students.
- The carbon cycle activity can be used in AP environmental science class.
- All activities are capable of being completed in one 55 min class.
- This unit was taught over a 3 day time span.
- The nitrogen activity was taught after the Early Earth activities and the carbon activities were taught after the photosynthesis activities.
- The students had knowledge about the forms of nitrogen and carbon in the atmosphere, were familiar with the term Cyanobacteria, and understood how carbon moves through a plant by photosynthesis and respiration.
- No homework assignments are associated with this section of the unit.
- The students were assigned appropriate reading from the textbook during the unit.
- Each lab activity has questions at the end to aid the students in understanding key concepts.
- For each activity a vocabulary list is defined at the top of each worksheet.
- The carbon cycle activity is challenging for 9th graders but was found to be successful once the students understood the activity.
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- This activity was already implemented in the curriculum and can be located on the windows 2 universe website.
- Once the students completed this activity they used the attached diagram to draw their own cycle.
- Once the students completed their own cycle a class version of the cycle was then drawn to show all the possible places nitrogen can cycle through.
- This activity was used as an introductory lesson into the carbon cycle and familiarizes the students with some of the terms for the second carbon activity.
- This activity will take the students ~30 min to complete and can be located at the windows 2 universe website.
- While students completed this game a worksheet was supplied to be completed during the activity.
- The students will need a whole 55 min period to complete this activity.
- The students will be required to read, interpret, and draw the information in the diagram.
- This activity is challenging for most of the students but was successful when students worked in small groups of 2-3.
- At the conclusion of this activity the students should be able to recognize that the reservoirs for carbon are very similar to the reservoirs of nitrogen and that each reservoir has both elements (carbon and nitrogen), suggesting that the cycles are connected.
- This activity was designed to reinforce concepts from the carbon cycle during the ocean or climate unit.
- This activity can also be used to supplement the carbon cycle in the biogeochemistry unit.
- The activity requires one 55 min class period.
- Many of the activities can be turned into classroom demonstrations if time and resources are limiting.
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Test Tubes
Test Materials
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- Grade Level: 9
- Time Frame: All the activities were designed for a 55 min class period.
- California Science Standard 7: "Each element on Earth moves among reservoirs, which exist in the solid earth, in oceans, in the atmosphere, and within and among organisms as part of biogeochemical cycles."
- California Science Standard 1C: "Students know the evidence from geological studies of Earth and other planets suggest that the early Earth was very different from Earth today."
- California Science Standard 4B: "Students know the fate of incoming solar radiation in terms of reflection, absorption, and photosynthesis."
- California Science Standard 8B: "Students know how the composition of Earth’s atmosphere has evolved over geologic time and know the effect of outgassing, the variations of carbon dioxide concentration, and the origin of atmospheric oxygen."
- Investigation and experimentation standards 1A: "Select and use appropriate tools and technology (such as computer-linked probes, spreadsheets, and graphing calculators) to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data."
- Investigation and experimentation standards 1D: "Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence."
- Investigation and experimentation standards 1L: "Analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and applying concepts from more than one area of science."
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Scripss Entrance
Scripps Library
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Design EarthRef.org
Sponsored by NSF and NSDL
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