MO-3: Modeling Moving Carbon
Carbon is the basis of all known life–and of this mission objective! Carbon is present in all living things on Earth, and it is also in the air, the water, and even many kinds of rocks! Every minute of every day, some of Earth’s carbon is moving around and changing form. Sound complicated? It is! After exploring two complex models of Earth’s carbon cycle, your team will use your knowledge to construct a carbon cycle for your local area and for Venus.
For the fructose model:
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Baggies
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Bingo chips (3 colors)
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Printed Fructose card
For the Carbon Cycle Game (physical version):
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Printed materials (station cards, handouts, etc.)
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Dice (1 per student)
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Explore Section: Carbon Cycle Game and Fructose Model activity — available in both online and physical/kinesthetic formats (recommended).
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Explain Section: Examples of local carbon cycle models.
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Elaborate Section: Articles and videos about Venus that will support students as they create their Venus carbon cycle games.
Earth’s carbon cycle is complex and involves the hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), geosphere (rocks and soil), and biosphere (living things). Carbon moves between several reservoirs and changes form (solid, liquid, and gas). A carbon reservoir is a place where carbon is stored. For example, carbon is stored in the bodies of all living things. This is why you might have heard the phrase “carbon-based life forms” in scifi movies. But carbon is stored in other reservoirs that you might not expect, including in soil, rocks, and water.
To learn more about carbon, check out the resources in the Getting up to Speed with ROADS from Earth to Venus document.
First, teams will play a carbon cycle game and build a fructose model to learn about the overall carbon cycle on Earth, including the important processes involving the fructose compound. These activities will help teams understand how the carbon cycle works on Earth and why carbon moves and changes the way it does.
Next, teams will show what they have learned by creating new resources. Middle school teams will make a place-based carbon cycle model that shows how carbon moves and changes in their own community. This model should label reservoirs such as lakes, plants, or soil, include processes such as photosynthesis or combustion, and show the role of human activities. Upper elementary teams will create a set of 6–10 story cards that tell the story of how carbon moves and changes in their local environment.
Venus also has a carbon cycle, but it is different from Earth’s in many ways. Every team will investigate the carbon cycle on Venus and design a Venus Carbon Cycle Game. Using the Earth Carbon Cycle Game as a starting point, you will adapt it to show how carbon might move and be stored on Venus. Your game should include station cards, processes, and an explanation of the choices you made.
Throughout this work, teams should make their ideas clear by using diagrams, maps, cards, writing, or other visuals so the team’s work can be shared and understood.
As they work, teams should keep track of their results in their Science and Engineering Notebooks (SENs). At the end of the Challenge, teams will be asked to submit a Mission Development Log (MDL) to NESSP that shows how the students worked through the Mission Objective and summarizes their results. NESSP provides an MDL Template to help guide what teams should include in their MDL. Please see MO-1 for guidelines on the format and length of the MDL.
There are two deliverables for this MO. The first deliverable (place-based carbon cycle) includes a different option (carbon cycle story cards) for Grades 3-5. The second deliverable for all grade levels is a Carbon Cycle game for Venus. The deliverables are detailed below.
- Place-based carbon cycle (1 per team, required for Middle and High School; optional for Grades 3–5, see below): Create a visual representation of a place-based local carbon cycle. Not all elements of the whole Earth’s carbon cycle will be present. (For example, unless you live near an ocean, you will not include this on your model.) This representation might be an annotated map, a flow chart, an infographic, or any other labeled visual representation that helps to answer these questions:
- What area does your model represent, how large is it, and how did you decide on that area for your model?
- Represent and label all reservoirs (lakes, rivers, clouds, etc.) and water cycle processes (evaporation, runoff, etc.).
- What reservoirs in the carbon cycle are present in your community? (Examples: ocean, plants, etc.) Label them.
- What processes from the carbon cycle are likely taking place in this area, whether you can see them or not? (Examples: photosynthesis, volcanoes, etc.) Represent and label them.
- How are human activities involved in your local carbon cycle? How are human activities causing carbon to move and change? Represent and label this on your model.
- For the reservoirs in your model, are there some where carbon might be stored (that is, “get stuck”) for a long time? Are there some where carbon is likely to move out quickly? Represent this on your model.
- Carbon Cycle Story Card Set (1 per team or 1 per student; this option is for Grades 3–5 only): Instead of the place-based carbon cycle, teams in Grades 3–5 may create a Place-based Carbon Story Card Set. This card set should:
- Have a short title that reflects the overall story that involves a local part of the carbon cycle.
- Include 6–10 cards in a sequence that show carbon moving and changing.
- The carbon should move to a new reservoir at least twice and change form (solid, gas, liquid) at least once.
- Include a written or audio-recorded description of what is happening in the card set.
- This card set should be modeled after the card set and description in Lesson 3 (Engage and Explain). However, the card set should show carbon moving and changing in ways that are different from the example. Students can get ideas about how and why carbon moves and changes from the Carbon Cycle Game they play in the Explore section of Lesson 3.
- Venus Carbon Cycle Game and Justification (1 per team, all grades): Use the Carbon Cycle Game for Earth as inspiration to create a game that represents the carbon cycle on Venus. Your game should include:
- Station cards that represent carbon reservoirs and show where carbon is stored on Venus.
- On each station card, show processes or actions that can move carbon on Venus from one reservoir to another.
- A justification for the changes made to the Earth Carbon Cycle Game that led to your completed Venus Carbon Cycle Game. This can be a narrative explanation or a series of bullet points.
- Areas of the game where you were not sure or had to make assumptions.