Climate Change Lesson 4 : The Carbon Cycle : Sources and Sinks

1. Carbon Connections is a three-unit, online curriculum for grades 9-12 that was designed to improve understanding of the carbon cycle and the science of Earth’s climate. Each of the three units includes five lessons. Each lesson includes focus questions, hands-on activities, virtual field trips, and interactive models. The concepts covered in the lessons span all science disciplines. Retrieved March 18, 2013 from http://carbonconnections.bscs.org/

2. Nature’s Recycling! Part B in the MEECS Ecosystem and Biodiversity Lesson investigates the role of plants in the carbon cycle.

3. Have students explore the potential of carbon sequestration in Michigan. Carbon sequestration is the term used to describe a broad class of technologies for capturing and permanently sequestering, or storing, CO2. The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership website includes a variety of fact sheets and briefings on the topic with Michigan-specific information. Retrieved January 17, 2013, from http://216.109.210.162/Default.aspx

4. Take the students on a carbon hike outdoors around the schoolyard. They can look for where carbon is found (living things, gasoline in vehicles, plastic, rocks, soil, etc.) and how carbon moves through the system (respiration, photosynthesis, combustion, carbon sequestration).

5. Do lessons from the Carbon Cycling Unit from the Michigan State Environmental Literacy Project at http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/publicsite/html/cc_tm_0910.html

6. Create a Carbon Cycle game using suggestions from the Additional Resources for this lesson.

Return to top