How is carbon released from the soil?

The main role of this lesson is to give students opportunities to further reason with their class model to determine how carbon is released from the soil. The goal is to set students up to better understand how real plant and soil solutions work to minimize cellular respiration by bugs and microbes and maximize photosynthesis.

What We Do: 

• Gather evidence through investigation about the processes underlying release of carbon from soil into the atmosphere. 

• Investigate with text to gather additional evidence about ways carbon is released from the soil.

What We Figure Out:

• Microbes and insects release CO2 through cellular respiration.

• Soil is made up primarily of organic (carbon-based) matter that is used by soil microbes and insects for food (decomposition).

• Plant-soil systems are viable solutions for offsetting carbon emissions by humans because a lot of carbon can be stored here.

Lab Preparation

Watch the following videos for lab instructions and how to prepare Bromothymol Blue (BTB) solution (Version A of the lab).