Introducing Students to the Carbon Cycle - This lesson will most likely take two class periods, with the focus on an introduction to the carbon cycle on day 1 (steps 1 - 3) and the carbon/climate/culture connection on day 2 (steps 4 - 6).
Goals: Students will become familiar with carbon, the carbon cycle, and the impact of increased carbon dioxide in our atmosphere on Earth's climate.
Students will learn about the carbon cycle.
Students will learn of the role of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Students will learn about human influences on the carbon cycle.
Students will find out how climate change is affecting people and their environments.
Rationale:During the "Cycles" theme we have previously focused on the water cycle.After taking this course, I realize that there are many resources out there that can be used to introduce the carbon cycle to elementary-aged students.While the main focus will be on how carbon naturally cycles through our ecosystem, it is important to take a look at human influence on this cycle, and how this is related to climate change.Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are a key factor in climate change.
Lesson:Introduce students to the carbon cycle using the following plan -
1.Read introduction to the carbon cycle as a group.Use projector in order to do so.
Why does the image of the scientist in the video segment fade after carbon dioxide has been turned on? How does this explain the greenhouse effect?
Draw a diagram that explains how radiant energy from the Sun heats Earth's atmosphere. Show how heat is absorbed and reradiated by both Earth and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
What personal actions do you think might contribute to the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, either by increasing it or decreasing it?
How long does it take for carbon dioxide to spread throughout Earth's atmosphere? How long does it take to be absorbed into the oceans?
Under what circumstances do you think carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere becomes harmful? Explain.
5.Assign each group (students work in learning teams) a region to research in terms of climate change issues. Have groups identify and report key issues to class.Resource:Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Scientists have discovered that these microbes are active much deeper into winter then previously thought, producing carbon dioxide as they break down organisms. Students may be suprised to learn that soil microbes contribute 1/2 of the CO2 produced in Arctic. Snow protects and warms the permafrost below, allowing microbial activity deep into winter, releasing not only CO2, but nutrients beneficial to taller, shrub like plants. These in turn, collect snow, warming permafrost even more efficiently, with increased microbial activity. This is an example of a Positive feedback loop.
Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?
My exploration of this module began with learning about the Huna Tlingit. The contributions their history and culture has been able to make to knowledge of the Glacier Bay region is apparent.They are able to describe how Glacier Bay has changed over hundreds of years, with information regarding climate, glacier activity, and the people who live there. Their culture has been affected by changes, such as having to move from Glacier Bay, to the north shore of Chichagof Island on Icy Strait.
I learned that in the past, Glacier Bay was a single ice sheet called the Grand Pacific Glacier.At one point it was 4,000 feet (1,200 m) thick and about 20 miles (32 km) in width. Over the last 200 years it has retreated by 65 miles (105 km) to the head of the bay at Tarr Inlet, leaving 20 separate glaciers in its trail.It was interesting to read that John Muir visited the bay in the late 1800's.
The TD movie, Changing Arctic Landscape explained that like sea ice, glaciers reflect heat back into the atmosphere.Instead of being reflected, the heat is absorbed, with the consequence that their loss may accelerate climate change.
The segments on permafrost were also very enlightening.Melting permafrost allows more water to be absorbed and opens up channels leading to disappearing lakes and ponds.Trapped gases are also released into the atmosphere - a cycle that leads to faster melt of permafrost, much as with glaciers and melting sea-ice. As climate changes, native flora and fauna are affected. New species encroach, weakened plants are susceptible to insects such as spruce bark beetle.Insect infestations such as the spruce bark beetle also lead to increased tinder, and the possibility of more devastating forest fires.
Thawing permafrost also moves water from above ground storage to below ground storage.As permafrost thaws, water percolates through the soil to aquifers below, draining ponds and lakes.The effects of this change are complex, and impact the ecosystem, weather, and climate.
Thawing permafrost creates habitat changes for migratory birds, fish, and other wildlife.In addition, as water is removed from the surface, the danger of forest fires increases. Because evaporation from lakes creates clouds and rain, scientists assert that the loss of lakes may also affect local weather.
Melting permafrost may also accelerate global warming by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Vast amounts of organic carbon arefrozen in the soil. In drier areas, carbon takes the form of carbon dioxide, and in wetter ones, methane.Methane's capacity to warm the atmosphere is even greater than that of carbon dioxide.
Google Earth pictures of an area that I have canoed in over the last 16 years.
We have wondered about the shrinking lakes in this area
The TD video Losing Permafrost in Alaska presented some interesting statistics related to the thawing of permafrost.For example, repairing damage caused by melting permafrost costs a whopping $35,000,000 a year!Another interesting statistic is that temperatures in interior Alaska are rising at a rate 10 times faster than the rest of the world.
The definition of Earth’s cryosphere and the role it plays in terms of Earth’s climate, was also clarified in this module.The cryosphere is the frozen areas of Earth's surface, including snow, glaciers, ice sheets, ice shelves, icebergs, sea ice, and permafrost .Permafrost is defined as land that is below 0 degrees Celsius for two or more years.
Sea ice plays an important role and acts as an insulating barrier, reducing the transfer of moisture and heat from the ocean to the air, which affects atmospheric circulation. In addition, freezing and melting of sea ice affect the salinity of the water and influence ocean circulation patterns.
The TD movie Earth's Cryospherepresents startling information about the cryosphere and changes that are taking place.I learned that the ice of Antarctica contains 70% of the worlds fresh water, while at the same time is one of the driest places in the world.
Glaciers and ice-streams carry ice from the interior of the continent to the edges.There, glaciers converge, forming huge floating ice shelves.One of largest, the Ross Ice shelf, is several hundred meters thick, about 497 miles across, and 90% submerged.How quickly change can take place, was also made evident, with ice shelves such as the Larson B, which after 12,000 years, collapsed in just 5 weeks.
The TD Movie Climate Changepointed out that climate is also constantly changing, and that these changes are not always over long periods of time.In fact, research conducted over the last 20 years or so describes dramatic shifts in Earth’s climate, that occurred over a period of a decade or less, rather than over thousands of years.
The ice core projects taking place in Greenland are fascinating.The Greenland ice sheet is over 2 miles deep with ice at the bottom formed over 250,000 years ago! Layers of ice analyzed from Greenland ice cores reveal the rapid onset of ice age conditions. They show average continental surface temperatures rising and falling dramatically in just a few years.
My understanding of Earth’s Ice Ages was also vague, and grew as I progressed through this module. I learned that ice ages are set in motion by gradual changes in the Earth's tilt, rotation, and orbit over thousands of years.Other factors, such as the composition of the atmosphere, Milankovitch cycles, continental position, and ocean currents, also play a role.It is amazing to consider that during the last glacial maximum, about 18,000 years ago, it would have been possible to walk from Alaska to New York, on ice!
The Ice Sages section of this module introduced several glacial deposit terms that I had not encountered previously.These included -
eskers: steep sided ridges of gravel/sand, possibly caused by streams running under stagnant
icekames: stratified drift builds up low steep hills
varves:alternating thin sedimentary beds (coarse and fine) of a pro-glacial lake.Summer conditions deposit more and coarser material and those of the winter, less and finer.
drumlins: smooth elongated hills composed of till.
While I had heard of pingos, I had not seen anything like the pingo and polygon wedge icephoto at thepingo description on Wikipedia.As I explored this section, I learned that ice wedges are of three types: active (still forming) inactive (not forming, still filled with ice) and casts (no longer have ice in them, instead sediment/dirt filled).Ice wedge casts can be used to determine climate from hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Meltin Pingo and Polygon Web Ice - Wikipedia
The Tunnel Man videos are fantastic and would definitely engage students.They are a fun way to learn about permafrost and how ice wedges form.The implications of building roads and buildingsover permafrost were also brought out.
Extend:How might you use this week’ information and resources in your lessons?
One of our themes at Fireweed is “Cycles.”Previously, we have taken a close look at the water cycle as a main focus in science.As I worked through this module, I realized that there are many related ideas we could be exploring. I will definitely be using both theA Drop in the Bucket and A Thousand Snowflakes activities in the future.These were enlightening for me and will be a great attention grabber for students.
Several of the websites highlighted in this module offer great potential as resources.While at the site, Glacier and Landscape Change in Response to Changing Climate, I checked out the USGS education links.Here I founda variety of lessons and useful tools.Terrawebfor kids looks especially interesting.
As I explored, I landed at a site called Earthshots: Satellite Images of Envirnomental Change.Here, you find an interactive map to explore environmental change around the world.Clicking on Alaska’s link brings you to(Clickable map) (Image) satellite photos and a description of the 1986 event during which Hubbard Glacier surged, creating an ice dam that blocked off a fjord.
The site Alaska Climate Summaries also looks very useful.The site provides monthly data from 1932 - 2005, includingmaximum temperatures, minimum temperatures, precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth.The site reveals changes in climate, and provides plenty of data for graphing and analyzing with students.
There were also several resources that could be used when learning about glaciers.One of these, Documenting Global Change - Teacher’s Domain - provides an intriguing to look at “then and now photos” of different glaciers in our state and includes thought-provoking discussion questions.
An idea that always comes up when studying glaciers is that they are like rivers of ice.Examples such as the Jakobshavn Glacier, flowing at 113 feet per day, could really reveal this ideato students. It is amazing that 20 million tons of icebergs are cast off each day by this glacier, and are responsible for 4% of global sea-level rise in our times.
The Mendenhall Glacier time lapse photography from Extreme Ice Surveysis also a great way to show kids the idea that glaciers flow.Showing the footage in both directions makes it even more dramatic.
Students would also enjoy learning about how glaciers change over time, through exploration of the repeat photography found at Glacier and Landscape Change in Response to Changing Climate.The following 3 photos of Toboggan Glacier (Prince William Sound) were taken in 1905, 2000, and 2008.
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
Department of the Interior/USGS
U.S. Geological Survey/photos by Bruce F. Molnia
Evaluate:How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?
A great deal of this module provided information that explains observations we make in our own environments.For example, our students enjoy that they can light off the methane bubbles found in our local ice-skating lake (Beluga Lake, Homer).
As I watched the You-Tube videos of methane burining, I also stumbled into a very exciting video about glacier surfing in Alaska. This video shows glacier calving and a risk-taking surfer riding the wave generated.While this is a fun one to watch, you would want the sound off if sharing it with students (questionable language).
The melting of permafrost and the implications are also very relevant to our lives. The TD movie Melting Permafrost, makes the impact and ‘here-and-nowness’ of the problems associated with melting permafrost very clear.
One of the impacts of melting permafrost is that water percolates through the soil to aquifers below, draining the lakes.I wonder if the lowering of lake levels in areas where I canoe each summer are due to melting permafrost, or other factors.The changing waterlines of ponds and lakes in this area can be seenin this Google Earth picture.
The TD movieClimate Change will also be useful when my students participate in Journey North’sMystery Class project.Each year, one of the mystery sites is invariably a scientific research station, such as in Antarctica or Greenland.Last year’s site was located in Greenland and was carrying out ice-core studies.We have done some exploration on this topic and this video provides an additional opportunity for learning about current research.
Three Colleagues
Eric Ellifson - I enjoyed the linksEric provided in his blog on module VII.It was interesting to take a look at the impact of owning pets and the comparison to owning an SUV at the provided link and reading the preview of the article “How Green is your Pet?” at the New Scientist magazine link.
Dominic (Nick) Pader- Dominic makes some interesting observations about his students and ideas that go beyond their immediate environment, such as our greater universe.I also enjoyed the “Extend” section of his blog, an appreciated the photo of liquid CO2 sitting 3000 feet down in the bottom of the ocean.He also mentions the usefulness of the “Element Song” and want to share a video my students recently enjoyed while exploring this topic.
They Might be Giants - Meet the Elements
Windsor Demore- As I read Windsor’s recent blog I became interested in the curriculum spiral chart he refers to.Clicking that link led to a great source of online resources and lessons at the ANKN website.
Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?
The extent of my knowledge of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit (IPGS) on Climate Change, was previously limited to having heard something about a summit taking place. I also remember a curriculum that came my way last year, something about the Circumpolar Year. I never really looked at that curriculum, and am now curious to dig it out and take a closer look. The issues at hand are critical ones, affecting our future and the future of this planet.
The importance of climate change issues to people affected in a very direct way, was made clear on the occasion of the IPGS. Indigenous people from all parts of the world gathered to discuss climate change. The resulting Anchorage Declaration, formalized the opinions, policy recommendations, and monitoring proposals, that were generated by the summit.
I particularly appreciated the concept of “Food Sovereignty Areas.” This is to protect areas, such as communities, air, waters, forests oceans, and sea ice. The ability to continue to live traditional, subsistence life-styles, relies heavily on protecting the land, and the rights of the people who live there. Overall, there is an impression that what is important to these groups is that they are able to offer their knowledge, communicate their stake in these issues, and to have their rights protected.
The arctic seems to be the “canary in the coal mine” of climate change. I learned that Shishmaref is a place where people are dealing with the effects first hand. Traditional knowledge is not as reliable as it once was, as changes in terrain, weather patterns, and game availability are occurring.
The TD movie Global Warming Threatens Shishmaref describes hunters as having to go further and further to find less and less. These is a ripple through all aspects of their lives and the place they call home, and as we learned, the arctic is changing at a faster rate than the rest of the world.
Village of Shishmaref, Alaska. Notice before and after a storm. Images courtesy of Nome Nugget Newspaper and can also be found at the the NOAA website Arctic Change.
My understanding of why greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap and hold heat, also grew as I read through this module. As I was discussing these ideas with a friend recently though, I realized I am slightly confused as to why, if greenhouse gases trap and hold heat, they do not also prevent heat and light from the sun, from entering our atmosphere.
My knowledge of the water of our earth, whether ocean, rivers, ponds, glaciers, arctic ice-pack, etc., being considered as the Earth’s cryosphere, and the impact it has on climate and climate change, grew from basically nothing, to a growing understanding. In fact, the spell-check on my computer does not recognize the word cryosphere, so it must be a fairly new term.
The arctic, with its snow and ice fields reflects significant amounts of sunlight, helping to keep our planet cool. Water absorbs heat, while ice and snow reflect it. This leads to ice-covered poles being significant in Earth’s cooling.
Extend: How might you use this week’ information and resources in your lessons?
Our fourth-quarter theme this year is "culture." I plan to use the interactive resources, labs, and movies assosciated with this module this theme. Many of the Teacher's Domain movies are perfect intro- and/or follow-up movies for learning about different cultures of Alaska and making the connections betweeen science concepts, culture, our environment, and change, Also helping to make these connections wiill be Yup'ik story-teller Jack Dalton, who we are hoping to have as an artist in residence for part of that time.
Evaluate: How useful, insightful or relevant are this module’s information and resources?
I found this module’s information to be very insightful in a variety of ways. While I had a basic understanding of some of the ideas presented, others were completely new to me. The information on climate change, and the factors involved, clarified my understanding of what is happening on our planet, and will help me to be a more effective teacher in this area.
Previously, I had not realized the significance of melting ice-pack. As polar ice decreases, more open water leads to greater heat, as water has such a high heat capacity, and absorbs this heat. More heating leads to faster melting. It is startling to hear that this trend could lead to an Ice-free arctic ocean in the summers by the end of the century.
The module helped in my understanding of these ideas and offered a variety of resources that I can use to introduce these ideas to my students.
As I consider what to teach and use, I remember that my goal is to get elementary students excited about science, their planet, and their future. This can provide a foundation for more careful study of how some of the science concepts (for example the heat capacity of water) affect our planet and to consider solutions.
Introducing some facts and ideas too early, may leave some students feeling depressed and like there is no hope for the planet Earth. It may be wise at this level to play more with the scientific concepts presented, and less with the impact of some of these concepts on our environment. Just food for thought...
Three Colleagues:
Janet Reed: I enjoyed reading Janet’s blog for module VIII and appreciate the links included. Her approach to the three colleagues segment for this course is one I think I will switch to. It makes sense to leave a comment and post the comment that was left, for this part of the blog. Thanks Janet!
Tommy Gossard: This was a fun blog to visit and the pictures Tommy includes really enhance his blog. I need to work on this aspect of my blogging! His comments in the three colleagues part of his blog, led to my visit to those as well.
Jesse Bjorkman: Jesse does a great job of making connections and extending ideas in his blog on module VI. His comments on flash freezing fish and link to the Clarence Birdseye story are an example of this.
Explain: What new learning or reflections have you taken from this module?
The active role northern cultures are taking in monitoring climate change is highlighted in this module. The Sila-Inuk project, in which the Greenland Hunters and Fishermen Organization is making first hand observations of climate change is one example. The TD movie Alaska Native Teens Help Researchers provides another great example of citizen science monitoring, as is the work La'ona Dewilde is doing in building scientific databases in Alaskan villages.
The list of readily observable changing conditions posted on the wall in the Teachers Domain movie Inuit Observatoins of Climate Change, is amazingly long. It seems to indicate accelerated change and possible ways to adapt to the changes. The movie also gives insight into the important role women play in contributing to the body of information on changes in the environment. This is in part due to the role they play in processing the foods that are harvested.
So how did we get here? The background on the formation of our planet and atmosphere, began to flesh out my understanding of what has led to the current state of our planet and atmosphere. I quickly realized that this aspect of our planets history, has previously been a mystery to me.
It is amazing to think of the Earth being formed from a star going Supernova. The comparison of the forming of a planet, to that of a snowball, was one I could understand, along with the idea that denser materials settle in the center, with less dense materials occurring towards the surface.
I had not realized that there was a time when almost no oxygen was present in our atmosphere, and that there were life forms, (single celled aquatic organisms) that oxygen was poison to. The evolution of cyanobacteria, which were able to photosynthesize, led to oxygen being released as a by-product into our oceans. Eventually, when the oceans were saturated with oxygen, it made its way into our atmosphere.
As I progressed through the module, the delicate balance and interplay between Earth systems that led to a hospitable planet became clear. The TD movie, Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect helped me to understand that greenhouse gases are what makes our planet habitable. Without them we would have an average temperature of 0 degrees. These gases absorb some of the infrared energy reflected by our planet back into space. Adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as a byproduct of using fossil fuels, will cause the average temperature to increase.
The TD video Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect explained why CO2 is the problem it is. Understanding that these molecules absorb infrared radiation, or heat that is reflected back into atmosphere by the earth, clarified my understanding of the problem. The infrared camera demonstration of how carbon dioxide absorbs heat radiation and blocks the scientists image, is startling and informative. Greenhouse gasses do not let the radiation pass through, they absorb it. It was also interesting to learn that carbon dioxide stays in atmosphere for about one hundred years before being absorbed by the oceans.
The role of soil microbes in the production of carbon dioxide in northern climates was revealed in the TD movie Soil Microbes and Global Warming . Scientists have discovered that these microbes are active much deeper into winter then previously thought, producing carbon dioxide as they break down organisms. It was surprising to learn that soil microbes contribute 1/2 of the CO2 produced in Arctic. Snow protects and warms the permafrost below, allowing microbial activity deep into winter, releasing not only CO2, but nutrients beneficial to taller, shrub like plants. These in turn, collect snow, warming permafrost even more efficiently, with increased microbial activity. This is an example of a Positive feedback loop.
The TD video Capturing Carbon brings an element of hope and possible solution into the picture . The idea of pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, inspired by Claus Lacker’s daughter’s science project, seems in a way to be a simple and obvious solution. As the movie pointed out, just as the Wright Brothers knew by looking at a bird, that flight was possible, these scientists knew by looking at trees, that it is possible to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Their challenge seemed to be to come up with a way to do this without an “energy penalty.” This meant being able to pull more CO2 molecules from atmosphere, than is created by running the device. Through “leaf geometry” or finding the best leaf design for allowing air flow, and the use of a top-secret material that helps avoid using sodium hydroxide, they have a very cool, innovative tree that may become a part of our future.
Extend: How might you use this weeks information and resources in your lessons? What other resources can you share?
Topics such as photosynthesis, which sometimes seem “ho hum” to students, can be energized by tying them into the bigger picture of how life formed on earth. The video, “Life Before Oxygen” is one that could enhance a lesson related to photosynthesis.
The changing landscape of the north, with forest taking over tundra, brought to mind a resource I have used in the past called, Alaska's Cold Desert“Alaska’s Cold Desert.” This unit, as well as several others, are offered through the BLM Education website. Alaska’s Cold Desert focuses on the arctic ecosystem and tundra. There is a scientific perspective and investigations, while economic issues are addressed as well.
Our World 2.0 also looks like a great site with many topics to explore. The articles offered seem to address a wide score of topics and I look forward to exploring this site further.
Evaluate: How useful, insightful and relevant are this modules information and resources?
This module was incredibly insightful and relevant in terms of helping me to understand our planets origins, present state, and future. It will allow me to be a more informed teacher and offers a variety of useful resources for instruction.
We are learning about matter and just last week the topic of the periodic table and elements was introduced. The TD movie The Origin of the Elements is a video-clip I intend to use to enhance and enrich this topic
The NOVA website Origins, looks like a very useful resource that can spark the users curiosity. Titles like, “Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way?” make you want to dive right in and participate in the poll. I did, and found out it is an interactive resource that provides a wealth of information in an interesting format. This is the kind of site that students would love to explore independently. As I explored this resource, I learned more about extremophiles, or microbes that thrive in extreme conditions.
I like Bobbi Anne’s idea for a “Did you know...?” wall. This does seem like a great way to get students thinking and wondering. Her post also inspired me to revisit the
I enjoyed the “I wonder...” type questions Dave poses in response to Module VII. Including a photo of his students carrying out a recent science investigation is also a great idea.
James had a great idea about using the Google Earth measurement tools in mathematics class. The idea of a “smoot’ as a unit of measurement recently came up in my math class as well!
James also uses actual video links - you can see the video and just push play. I need to figure out how to do that!
