This video describes the carbon cycle and illustrates the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on climate change using the game Tetris as a metaphor.
Students can complete interactive questions, explore related content, and engage with others by commenting on a forum with existing questions and responses.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The video is short, illustrative, and encourages viewers to take action.
The website has a guided structure of Watch, Think, Dig Deeper, and Discuss.
Existing forum responses provide a rich look into how others have conflicting views on the topic.
Additional Prerequisites
Students need to be at least 13 years old to create a TED-Ed account with their email, so they can answer the embedded questions and contribute to the open forum.
The teacher should plan some way for students to show accountability, perhaps with a screenshot of their discussion post at the end.
Differentiation
In an English class, have students write about ways of clearing the "blocks" and slowing down the incoming "blocks" to practice using analogies.
It is adaptable to virtual learning as long as there are clear instructions for what to turn in.
The video gives younger students an introduction to the impact of greenhouse gases while providing a hook for older students about the urgency of climate change.
The teacher has the freedom to choose resources from the Dig Deeper section to plan a personalized grade-appropriate activity.
Other resources on this topic include this video on changes in global carbon dioxide levels and this Vox video on how humans disrupted the carbon cycle.
Scientist Notes
The game of Tetris contains the basic features to understand the interaction between the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, climate change, and human activities. This resource is suitable for students to explore these changes.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-7 Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth’s systems and life on Earth.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-6 Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
MS-LS1-6 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
PS1: Matter and its Interactions
HS-PS1-2 Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.13.6-8 Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.5.9-12 Evaluate how political and economic decisions throughout time have influenced cultural and environmental characteristics of various places and regions.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.6.6-8 Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
