The IMOLD Model - The Carbon Cycle

The purpose of this lesson is to highlight the importance of the Carbon Cycle in the natural cycles of photosynthesis and respiration. It also models how human activity can alter the carbon cycle. The animation, which runs for 2:56 minutes total time, covers a large amount of information that students may or may not be familiar with. Here is one suggestion for working your students through the animation. By actively taking notes during the animations, students can engage in a dialogue with the model and better increase their understanding of the material. The instructions read as if each student has their own computer, but this can be modified for a whole class activity with one computer.

Utilize the associated PDF for the teacher key and word doc for the student worksheet. This activity is part of a larger lesson by PolarTREC teacher Susan Steiner on the IMOLD project: Using the IMOLD Interactive Model of Leaf Decomposition