In this activity, students will measure the circumference of a tree, use a biomass chart to determine the mass of the tree, and then calculate the amount of carbon that the tree has stored.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This activity uses easy-to-follow directions and offers explanations for each step.
Students will have a chance to practice reading a graph and performing calculations for a tree in their own community.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should have a basic understanding of photosynthesis.
Teachers will need to provide students with a tape measure and a printout of the graphs on pages 4 and 5 of the PDF.
Differentiation
This video resource pairs with this activity, so students can also watch the video before completing the activity.
After calculating the stored carbon in the tree, students could compare it to annual global carbon emissions data and calculate how many trees it would take to sequester that much carbon.
Students could turn their data into an awareness campaign by making a video explaining how much carbon each tree has stored and placing a QR code on the tree so that people can scan it to find the video.
Students can engage in this activity to deepen their knowledge of calculating CO2 storage capacity in different tree species. This is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
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.
MS-LS1-7 Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
HS-LS2-4 Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
Common Core Math Standards (CCSS.MATH)
Expressions & Equations (6-8)
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.EE.B.7 Solve real-world and mathematical problems by writing and solving equations of the form x + p = q and px = q for cases in which p, q and x are all nonnegative rational numbers.
Geometry (K-8)
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.B.4 Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.
