The Carbon Cycle: Exploring Global Change

Global warming is real. How warm will it get? Where? Is there reliable evidence to support a valid conclusion? How has human activity impacted the concentrations of some of the important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? Can anything be done to effect a different impact in the future?

This "Carbon Cycle" lesson was adapted from the last of a five-lesson set created by Stephanie Coffey, a high school Biology teacher and member of the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency program at California State University, Los Angeles. (See the "Global Climate Change" lesson in More Lessons from the Sky.) The lesson is designed to guide learners on a quest for information about the carbon cycle followed by a consideration of carbon in greenhouse gas emissions, and chlorofluorocarbon production through mathematical modeling. Though originally intended for high school life science classes, "The Carbon Cycle" has application in Earth and Space Sciences and can easily be adapted to middle school grades. Learners will decide for themselves questions of global change and the role human activity may play.

Next Generation Science Standards addressed in this lesson:
    MS-LS1-6     MS-ESS3-5     HS-LS2-5     HS-ESS2-6