Oceans and the Carbon Cycle Lab

• In this two-part lab, students will learn how carbon cycles in the ocean, the role of phytoplankton in the carbon cycle, and how the carbon and nitrogen cycles are connected.

Positives

• The resources used in this lab are excellent and will help students understand the content.
• Extensions and a teacher's key are available to assist with implementation.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• You may need to zoom out to see all of the features on the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute's interactive cycles. You can hold Shift and tap the minus key a couple of times to quickly do this on most computers.
• You must sign in to get access to the teacher's key.
  

Differentiation

• This lab contains a number of short videos and animations to help with student comprehension, which may be especially useful for younger students or those unfamiliar with microbes and nutrient cycles.
• Consider having students watch some of the videos as homework and then review in class together.
• Biology and chemistry classes can utilize this lab for lessons about the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, thermohaline circulation patterns, global biogeochemical cycles, producers, photosynthesis, or net primary production.
• This lab would be a great choice for marine science clubs, environmental science classes, or microbiology classes.