This week we had a special day of GATE where Dr. Jen Pierce from BSU led us through a day of learning about the relationships between carbon dioxide, humans, and the environment. The students started the day by learning that carbon dioxide is acidic through an ocean acidification experiment.  Next up was a game of Greenhouse Gas Tag which help solidify the idea that greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) trap heat.

They then thought about carbon dioxide, climate, and wildfires. We headed outside for most of the morning where the students worked on teams to create matchstick forest models and analyze the spread of different scenarios. (My phone died at this point, but I'll add photos from Dr. Pierce soon!)

After lunch, our final look at carbon dioxide was about how carbon is stored in the soil. The students looked at soil samples from the school yard and then created their own edible soil profiles where they identified the organic layer, the iron-rich substrate B, and the carbon-rich layer of calcium carbonate.

Thanks so much for joining our class for the day, Dr. Pierce! I'm thinking more than one student was inspired to change their Genius Hour project to a topic inspired by their work today!