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Carbon Cycle Skills

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  • SL Core /
  • Ecology Activities for Learning/
  • Carbon Cycle Skills

The size and speed of carbon flux between different carbon reservoirs and the processes responsible give students a detailed understanding of the carbon cycle. This lesson begins with the identification of different carbon molecules, the reservoirs and the processes which make up the carbon cycle. Analysis of data from the latest research is where todays controversies lie and students are given opportunities to test their understanding in data analysis questions in the third activity.

Lesson Description

Guiding Questions

How many different types of carbon molecule are involved in the carbon cycle?

How big is a Giga-tonne of Carbon?

Activity 1 Introduction to the Carbon cycle - building a diagram

The Presentation introduction to the carbon cycle below is an introduction to the carbon cycle? Students can use the slides to build a diagram of the carbon cycle.

There are two options.

Activity 2: Activities to help students to learn the details effect in the lab

The Quizlet flashcards on carbon reservoirs and carbon cycle processes below may be useful to help some students learn the details of the carbon cycle. Differentiate by suggesting students choose their own study mode using the drop down menu.
The Quizlet online quiz and the scatter game are my favorites.

Flash cards of these term  Carbon cycle terms flashcards ​can be printed from this pdf file

Activity 3: IB style question on carbon flux in the carbon cycle

These  IB style questions on carbon flux test the understanding of the steps in the carbon cycle and also the students skills in data analysis carbon flux diagrams.


Teachers notes

This lesson has been developed for the new IB guide 2014+.

The first activity provides slides to use while explaining the carbon cycle, students can either use the powerpoint or draw their own diagrams of carbon movements in the carbon cycle. This activity may take 30 minutes, but many students already have a good idea of the carbon cycle from previous study and it can take much less time in this case.

Activity 2 could be a homework task or reinforcement of the ideas from activity one. There are many ways of approaching this.

Activity 3 is a selection of questions which will take students up to 1 hour to answer. There are some questions referring to carbon flux and the units Giga-tonnes. It may be good to introduce these ideas before the students attempt the questions as some of the require a bit of thinking.

There are Carbon cycle IB style questions - model answers here.

There are so many materials about the carbon cycle available, here are a few suggestions for further reading:

There are some excellent and detailed lesson plans about all aspects of the carbon cycle here; http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/carbon/index.html