Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 mins

Tune in: Where does Carbon Dioxide come from?

30 mins

Find out: Carbon Capture

15 mins

Take action: Stop the leak

5 mins

Reflection

Tune in: Where does carbon dioxide come from?

Step 1

In the previous lesson in this unit, The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Environment, we looked at the effect of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Where is this carbon dioxide coming from? You might like to rewatch this video with your students:

Climate Science in a Nutshell #5: Where Does Carbon Dioxide - Planet Nutshell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpazvRVh4y0)

Step 2

After watching the video, ask your students to brainstorm - What are some of the different ways humans produce carbon dioxide?

The two big takeaways from the video are transport (driving, flying) and producing electricity as the two biggest causes of carbon dioxide production. Students might also talk about

breathing
deforestation
agriculture
mining
and manufacturing as other ways humans produce carbon dioxide.

Numeracy extension:

In 2022, Australia produced 463.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Australia’s population was 26 million people in 2022.

How much carbon dioxide, on average, did each person produce?

The volume of 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide is approximately 511 million cubic meters (at standard temperature and pressure). The volume of the average Australian house (according to ChatGPT) is 540,000 litres.

How many houses would each person fill with carbon dioxide in a year?

To extend on this, students could choose a unit of measurement of their choice to represent the amount of carbon dioxide an Australian produces in a year. We just chose houses, maybe they would like to measure it in elephants?

Find out: Carbon capture

Step 1

Is this reversible? We know some chemical reactions are reversible, and some are not. If we melt ice, we can pop the water in the freezer and get ice again. Unfortunately, we can’t do this with these ways of making carbon dioxide. We can’t un-drive our cars or un-burn coal. Even if it were possible from a chemical point of view, we wouldn’t want to because we need that energy to drive our cards and make our electricity. Let’s look at some other ways we can re-capture this carbon dioxide.

So, how do we capture the carbon in our atmosphere?

Let’s look at some of the current methods. Divide the students into five groups and give each group one of the carbon capture posters focusing on the following methods: Revegetation, Direct Air Capture, Post-combustion capture, Microalgae, and Concrete.

Ask them to read the description of the method and then write down at least one thing they think would be good about this method and one thing that could be bad. Give each group just 5 minutes per poster before moving on to the next poster. Each group should get a chance to add their thoughts to each poster.

Step 2

Review the points they have made for each method and discuss with the class which method they think would be the most

effective
cost-efficient
safe
beneficial in the long term.

Step 3

In 2022, Australia produced 463.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. A mature tree absorbs an average of 22kgs of carbon a year, so you would need around 21 billion trees to offset that amount of carbon dioxide. While carbon capture is important to reverse the effects of climate change, we also need to slow down the release of carbon dioxide!

Take action: Stop the leak

Step 1

Let’s look at how we could slow down our release of carbon dioxide. Revisit our ideas from the Tune In, Step 2. on how humans generate carbon dioxide. Using these as a prompt, in their groups, students are going to have 10 minutes to write down as many ideas as possible for reducing carbon dioxide. They should aim for a minimum of 20 suggestions. Encourage them to be creative!

Step 2

Have the groups share their answers with the class. Going around the room, each group reads out a suggestion. If it is a new suggestion that no one has said yet, they get one point. If they have no more original suggestions, their turn is skipped until all of the groups are out of original suggestions.

You may be getting some pretty 'out-there' suggestions by the end. However, so long as they reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it still counts (e.g. lighting candles instead of turning on lights still creates carbon dioxide, so it isn’t a solution, but everyone is limited to 2 lightbulbs in their house at a time, while very creative, would still reduce carbon dioxide emissions, so one point).

Reflection

Take one of the more out-there suggestions for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It doesn’t have to be your own. Is there a way you could change this to make it actually work?

For example, everyone is limited to 2 lightbulbs in their house at a time.

Maybe there should be a building code limiting the number of lights per square metre in a new building or a limit to the amount of energy the lighting can use when all the lights are on.

Who would you need to talk to to see if this idea is feasible? In the case above, maybe a draughtsperson, an architect, or an electrician could give you insight.

Carbon and Capture

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

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