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Implementing an online module about measuring carbon stocks in an undergraduate Earth Science course

Author(s): Jose Montalva

East Central University

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Summary:
In this implementation of a case study in which high technology was used to measure carbon stocks in a tropical forest, earth science students in this 4-year college in Oklahoma applied concepts about carbon cycling and related them to climate…

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In this implementation of a case study in which high technology was used to measure carbon stocks in a tropical forest, earth science students in this 4-year college in Oklahoma applied concepts about carbon cycling and related them to climate change.

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International according to these terms

Version 1.0 - published on 09 Jun 2024 doi:10.25334/98S7-HQ75 - cite this

Keywords

  1. climate change
  2. photosynthesis
  3. biomass
  4. carbon cycle
  5. greenhouse gas effect

Alignments

  1. Resource Type
  2. Courses
  3. Course Level
  4. Bloom's Cognitive Level
  5. Vision and Change Core Competencies
  6. Vision and Change Core Concepts
  7. Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework
  8. Class Size
  9. Audience
  10. Lesson Length
  11. Key Scientific Process Skills
  12. Pedagogical Approaches
  13. Assessment Type
Contents:
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Description

A contemporary and crucial subject to study at the undergraduate level in an Earth Science course is climate change. Gaining an understanding of the carbon cycle's dynamics may be essential to reducing its harmful impacts. In the present module students explore High technology to measure forest carbon stocks in a tropical forest. Carbon stocks function as carbon sinks, reducing the atmospheric concentration of carbon, thus mitigating the greenhouse effect and global warming. Students discuss the concepts they learned in class and in this case, study concepts related to climate change.

Overview of Module:

Remote sensing technology has advanced rapidly, making it possible to scan a forest in 3D and obtain hundreds of images in radiation bands that go beyond what our eyes can see. A large amount of highly detailed information about forests opens a possibility to improve carbon stock estimates, but it also creates a challenge to find the best modeling strategies. This module explores the use of high technology to measure forest carbon stocks in a tropical forest and helps students understand climate-related changes associated with the carbon cycle.

Summary of implementation plan and teaching notes.  

  • This module was implemented in an undergraduate Earth Science (Gen. ed. Non-majors) course at East Central University, Oklahoma
  • The module was used as the last lab of the course, finishing the concept of the 4 spheres (https://gml.noaa.gov/education/info_activities/pdfs/TBI_earth_spheres.pdf). The module fit perfectly as the last sphere, Biosphere, because it incorporated biotic and abiotic elements, and integrated topics learned in the previous labs.
  • Supplementary materials attached: Set of questions that were loaded to the university blackboard and the answer key.

 

Support was provided by: A grant from the United States National Science Foundation (DBI-RCN-UBE 2120141).

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