Caught Up in the Carbon Cycle

• In this interactive activity, students role-play a carbon molecule as it moves through the carbon cycle.
  
• By helping students experience the carbon cycle through a physical game-like activity, they realize that the carbon cycle is quite complex and that carbon may build up in some locations while it quickly moves out of others.
  

Positives

• Students will enjoy getting outside or out of their seats for this fun activity.
  
• This is a great introductory activity to introduce students to some of the core concepts that connect to climate change.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Although some background information about the carbon cycle and climate change is provided for teachers, it might be helpful to also share some of this background information with students before completing the activity.
• A large indoor or outdoor space is recommended for this activity.
• About 50 minutes are needed before the activity in order to print, cut, and sort the cards. 

Differentiation

• The teacher instructions recommend taking time to go over the vocabulary terms with students before completing the activity.
• Visuals and explicit vocabulary instruction is particularly important for any English language learners. 
• Try pairing this activity with this digital carbon cycle game. 
• Younger students could work in pairs or have more detailed instructions on the cards.
• Have students brainstorm why faster-growing and longer-lived trees may be beneficial for removing carbon from the atmosphere, while plants like turf grass and annual crops are less beneficial.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.