April 3

Carbon Cycle Simulation 💨🌿

📅 Completed: April 3
📅 Due: April 4

In this interactive activity, students became carbon atoms journeying through Earth's carbon cycle. By rolling dice and using station scenarios, students modeled how carbon moves between the atmosphere, plants, animals, oceans, soil, and fossil fuels. The goal was to better understand how carbon is stored, released, and recycled in different parts of the environment.

🌀 What We Did:

1️⃣ Started as Carbon in a Unique Form
Students chose a starting state for their carbon atom—such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, sugar in a plant, protein in an animal, or soot from a smokestack.

2️⃣ Rolled the Dice 15 Times
Each roll determined how their carbon atom moved through the cycle:

• Photosynthesis took them into plants

• Consumption moved them into animals

• Respiration, decomposition, combustion, and volcanic eruptions sent them back to the atmosphere

• Some ended up in fossil fuels or ocean storage
  
  

3️⃣ Recorded Their Journey
Students documented each movement on their tracking sheet and then wrote a creative story, rap, poem, or summary of their journey from one form to another.

4️⃣ Completed an Extension Activity
Students answered questions on:

• The importance of carbon to life

• Why carbon never runs out

• Carbon’s role in global warming

• How long carbon can be stored in different reservoirs (like fossil fuels or the atmosphere)

• Which locations in the cycle they spent the most and least time in
  
  

5️⃣ Created a Bar Graph
Students graphed their 15 stops to visualize where carbon is most likely to be stored or cycled through in a short time.

🌍 Why This Matters:

This lab helped students visualize how carbon continuously moves through the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. It reinforced how human activity, like burning fossil fuels, can disrupt the natural cycle and increase carbon in the atmosphere—contributing to climate change.

✅ Great job exploring the carbon cycle in action! Keep thinking about your carbon footprint and how we all impact the Earth's systems. 🌎♻️