Topic: Properties of carbon dioxide – circulation in nature

Target group

Elementary school student (grades 7. and 8.)

Core curriculum:

Primary school. Chemistry.

IV. Oxygen, hydrogen and their chemical compounds. Air. Pupil:

2) describes the physical properties and applications of selected oxides (e.g., calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, iron oxides, carbon oxides, silicon dioxide, sulfur oxides);

5) describes the physical and chemical properties of carbon dioxide and the function of this gas in nature; designs and conducts experiments to obtain and detect carbon dioxide (e.g. in the air exhaled from the lungs); writes the equations for the reaction of obtaining carbon dioxide (eg the reaction of coal combustion in oxygen, decomposition of carbonates, reaction of calcium carbonate with hydrochloric acid).

General aim of education

The student discusses carbon dioxide in nature.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• name the sources of carbon dioxide;

• discuss the circulation of carbon dioxide in nature.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1. The teacher hands out Methodology Guide or green, yellow and red sheets of paper to the students to be used during the work based on a traffic light technique. He presents the aims of the lesson in the student's language on a multimedia presentation and discusses the criteria of success (aims of the lesson and success criteria can be send to students via e‑mail or posted on Facebook, so that students will be able to manage their portfolio).

2. The teacher together with the students determines the topic – based on the previously presented lesson aims – and then writes it on the interactive whiteboard/blackboard. Students write the topic in the notebook.

3. Health and safety – before starting the experiments, students familiarise themselves with the safety data sheets of the substances that will be used during the lesson. The teacher points out the need to be careful when working with them.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to read the fragment titled „One of the most mysterious disasters in history” and try to remember its content. Then the participants, working in pairs, ask each other about the knowledge of the fragment.

2. Participants will familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issue of photosynthesis with the students..

3. Students create a drawing in the form of a diagram showing the circulation of carbon dioxide in nature, using a sketchbook in the abstract.

4. Students carry out the interactive exercises checking the level of knowledge learned during the lesson. The teacher initiates a discussion during which the correct solutions for all the exercises performed by the students are discussed.

5. The teacher plays the abstract recording for all students. Participants listen carefully and give feedback on the difficulty of the text being heard using the traffic light method. Students are provided with green, yellow and red cards. While listening to the recording, they display the appropriate color for self‑assessment and to inform the teacher: green - I'm fine, I understand everything; yellow - I have some doubts; red - I do not understand anything, please help. The teacher responds depending on the needs of the students, deciding to repeat the recording, listen to the recording while following the text or translate the text.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students to finish the following sentences:

   • Today I learned ...

   • I understood that …

   • It surprised me …

   • I found out ...

   The teacher can use the interactive whiteboard in the abstract or instruct students to work with it

Homework

1. Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Properties of carbon dioxide – circulation in nature

On August 22, 1986, in the morning, in Cameroon, the area surrounding Nyos Lake, situated on the slope of an inactive volcano (900 m above sea level), seemed completely extinct. Of the seven hundred residents of one of the villages who had been doing their daily activities a day earlier, only six survived. A terrifying sight appeared to their eyes. In the area of 30 km from the lake, 1,466 people and many thousands of animals lost their lives. The ridiculous was the lack of any external injuries. People who came to the lake were surprised by the reduction of the sheet of water by about a meter, the change of the colour of water from blue to red and trees lying at the edge as after the tsunami. Those who survived had health problems, they said that the spirit of the lake was to blame for everything. And what happened?

It is assumed that huge amounts of gas accumulated under the lake bottom have escaped above its surface. Carbon dioxide’s density is about 1.5 times higher than the density of the air. Filling the valley, it displaced the air out of it, containing the necessary oxygen for life. Although COIndeks dolny 2₂ is not a toxic gas, it can cause death by asphyxiation. When its content in the air exceeds 10%, hallucinations and coma may appear, and when it is 20% death occurs within a dozen or so minutes.

Carbon dioxide is an important component of atmospheric air (0.03% of volume). It is an indispensable substrate in the process of photosynthesis.

$6{\mathrm{CO}}_2+6{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\stackrel{\mathrm{energy},\mathrm{chlorophyll}}{\to }{\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_{12}{\mathrm{O}}_6+6{\mathrm{O}}_2$

• Carbon dioxide is a component of the air. Its content in the air is variable.

• It is created in the processes of breathing, fermentation and combustion. Under the influence of sunlight, in the presence of chlorophyll found in cells, carbon dioxide with the help of water transforms into oxygen and glucose. This process is called photosynthesis.