Target Student Performance
Students use a diagrammatic carbon cycle model to investigate how oceans and seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres affect the annual cycle and a long-term trend in the atmospheric CO2 pool.
Resources You Provide
- Pump handle video (https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html ) See the Lesson 4 Background information for more information about this video.
- Keeling & South Pole PPT slides & video: https://youtu.be/UatUDnFmNTY
- Primary productivity PPT slides & video: http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/globalmaps/data/mov/MOD17A2_M_PSN.mov
- Explanation of how changes in sunlight drive changes in photosynthesis, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgHmqv_-UbQ
- Website on ocean acidification: https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/ocean-acidification
- Media representations of carbon cycle:
Resources Provided
- 4.5 Seasons & Oceans PPT
- 4.5 Seasons and Oceans Worksheet (1 per student)
- 4.5 Grading the Seasons and Oceans Worksheet
Recurring Resources
- Learning Tracking Tool for Human Energy Systems (1 per student)
- Assessing the Learning Tracking Tool for Human Energy Systems
- (Optional) Big Idea Probe: What Would Happen if We Cut Fossil Fuel Use in Half (1 per student)
- (Optional) Assessing the Big Idea Probe: What Would Happen if We Cut Fossil Fuel Use in Half
Setup
Prepare one copy of 4.5 Seasons and Oceans Worksheet and one copy of Big Idea Probe: What Would Happen if We Cut Fossil Fuel Use in Half for each student. Prepare a computer and projector for the film and 4.5 Seasons & Oceans PPT. You may want to open the videos ahead of time on your computer as they will be shown during this lesson. Make sure students have their Learning Tracking Tool for Human Energy Systems available for the end of the lesson.