Going in Circles

Follow carbon through the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and rock cycle. Model and test the Earth’s cycles to discover how carbon is incorporated into each of them. Going in Circles will help your student learn about and test the intricacies of Earth’s cycles.

In this kit, students will investigate and test elements of the different Earth cycles to uncover a variety of Earth’s cycles, including the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and rock cycle. Students will use these hands-on science experiments to delve into the different Earth cycles and their relationship to carbon. Going in Circles comes with a full-color Student Workbook and Teacher Guide. This kit contains activities and information that focuses on the phenomenon of intriguing Earth cycle facts and an interactive Traveling Carbon game.

As part of a special program from Home Science Tools, this Launch level kit will provide over 15 hours of knowledge, educating your student about Earth’s cycles, and how they are connected through carbon.

In this kit, the student will partake in these hands-on learning experiences:

1. Determine which statements are true or false, and use a model called Traveling Carbon.
2. Use a tree ring to connect the relationship between carbon and climate.
3. Simulate one piece of the water cycle to see how precipitation levels and soil type relate to runoff.
4. Experiment with runoff and plant growth using different concentrations of fertilizer.
5. Observe specimens to discover where carbon is found in the rock cycle.

The following are Science Unlocked kits we suggest your student has completed prior to doing this kit:

• Contain Your Excitement
• Beneath Our Feet

Use “Going in Circles” to answer questions such as:

• What is the carbon cycle?
• How is carbon connected to other Earth cycles?
• What is the relationship between the phosphorus cycle and nitrogen cycle?
• How does the greenhouse effect alter the water cycle?
• What aspects of the rock cycle incorporate carbon?

Interested in learning more? Check out our Student Workbook Sample and Teacher Guide Sample!

More Information

• Safety Information (SDS)

This kit contains:

• 1 Aluminum Pie Plate
• 1 Clay
• 5 Cups
• 1 Die
• 1 Fertilizer
• 1 Granite 
• 1 Limestone
• 1 Nail
• 2 Bags of Peat Moss
• 2 Plastic Graduated Cups
• 1 Ruler
• 1 Corn Seeds
• 1 Slate 
• 1 Tree Ring

On hand, you will want to have:

• Measuring Spoons (1/8^th, 1/4^th, and ½ teaspoon)
• Scissors
• Water 

• Learning outcome: Follow carbon through the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle, and rock cycle with experiments and models to find out how they are connected.
• NGSS science standards alignment
• HS-ESS2-6 Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
• MS-ESS2-1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.