Digital version
Carbon clues
Carbon is all around us and available to us in many different forms, yet we can’t see it and often we don’t even know it’s there. Whether it’s a tree, a bird or the ground that we’re walking on, it all consists of carbon. Even indoors, many of the things we use every day – wooden tables, plastic chairs and most of our food – are mostly carbon. The Carbon clues unit is an ideal way to investigate the science of carbon and improve the scientific literacy of students in the classroom in a detective story setting. It provides opportunities for students to investigate their understanding of carbon while they sift through the clues and through immersion and discussion, arrive at their own considered opinion about the implications of using carbon in our journey towards living more sustainably.
The digital versions of these resources are designed for use with Adobe Acrobat Reader and are set up to enable students to be able to enter and save their answers within each document on their desktop. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded here.
Print version
Lesson 1:
Carbon confidential
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 2:
Making inquiries about carbon
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 3:
Carbon in disguise
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 4:
Searching for carbon
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 5:
Carbon hides in the air
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 6:
Tracking carbon’s footprints
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 7:
Capture that carbon!
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 8:
Comical carbon
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
Lesson 9:
Deciding carbon’s future…
Teacher notes
Student worksheet
