Introduction
In Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle substance turnover or cycling of substances is a pathway by which a chemical substance moves through both biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere) compartments of Earth. There are three biogeochemical cycles which we will study. These are the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the phosporus cycle.
During this WebQuest the students are to be thinking about the Essential Quetion of why the Earth's biogeochemical cycles all are interrelated.
Task
Students are to find out information about each of the biogeochemical cycles through reading information, viewing video clips and playing games related to the biogeochemical cycles. Students will create foldables diagraming and labeling each of the biogeochemical cycles.
Process
Students will all have access to three sheets of colored blank paper, scissors, colored pencils and pencils. They will have access to the Internet through desktop computers or IPADS.
Students will search the three biogeochemical cycles using the Internet. Students will visit the following Internet sites and review the material, view the visuals and play the games to gather basic information on their WebQuest. Additional sites can also be visited and there URL's added to the resources used and cited on the credits page.
http://www.ducksters.com/science/ecosystems/nitrogen_cycle.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_2011/…
http://study.com/academy/lesson/phosphorus-cycle-steps-definition-diagr…
https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/carbon_cycle.html
http://biology.tutorvista.com/ecology/phosphorus-cycle.html
http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/flash_mov/nitrogencycleintro.swf
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated based on their creation of 3 foldables. 1 foldable for each biogeochemical cycle. The rubric to be used will be the foldable rubric which is in the Earth Science Interactive Journals on page 6. A score of 3 or 4 is required for each foldable.
Conclusion
At the conclusion of this WebQuest the student should be able to diagram and explain each biogeochemical cycle. The foldables created will be added to the student's Earth Science Interactive Journal.
Additional websites used in the creation of the foldables will be added to the credits page of the WebQuest.