CYCLES OF NATURE
Year 11 - Earth and Environmental Sciences: energy
for biogeochemical processes
Australian Curriculum learning objectives


ACSES0551 - Biogeochemical cycling of matter, including nitrogen and
phosphorous, involves the transfer and transformation of energy
between the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere
ACSES0562 - Energy is stored, transferred and transformed in the carbon
cycle; biological elements, including living and dead organisms, store
energy over relatively short timescales, and geological elements (for
example, hydrocarbons, coal and kerogens) store energy for extended
periods
Resources required

The Cycles: Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus captioned video
from VEA. (Duration: 25 minutes.)

The Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorous worksheet x class set

The Carbon Cycle Cutout worksheet x class set

Nitrogen Cycle Activity3 worksheet x class set
Lesson outcome: students learn and can draw carbon, nitrogen and
phosphorous cycles.
Lesson outline
1.
Teacher shows video and hands out worksheet for students to
complete whilst watching the video. The “Water Cycle” section of the
video is an optional extra.
2.
Teacher should go through answers to the questions from the video
worksheet.
3.
Hand out The Carbon Cycle Cutout worksheet. Students should
complete this by cutting out the components and arranging them in
the appropriate order, and stick them into their books.
1
http://bit.ly/1lt8Wbp
2
http://bit.ly/1j7XOzN
3http://bit.ly/1mGzRQL
4.
Hand out The Nitrogen Cycle worksheet. Students should read this
information and fill in the nitrogen cycle chart, and answer the
questions.
Homework/extension
For homework, students should research the phosphorous cycle at home and
draw a copy of the phosphorus cycle into their books, to have a complete
version of all 3 cycles.
Opportunity for further activity
Watch “the water cycle” component of the video, and students to construct
a diagram of the water cycle.