Topic/Learning Activity
Title and syllabus reference:
1.4.8 Nutrient Recycling.
Identify the role of the organism in the pathway of an inorganic nutrient cycle
as demonstrated by each of the following: the carbon cycle and the nitrogen
cycle.
This Framework will specifically deal with the nitrogen cycle.
Student Cohort
Student level: Prior knowledge required by the students:
Before beginning a lesson on the nitrogen cycle students should have knowledge on what nitrogen is and its importance in
our environment.
• Nitrogen is an element of the periodic table vital for life.
• It is embedded in every living tissue.
• Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air we breathe.
• Students should have covered the topic of food with significant importance expressed in relation to protein and its
makeup, i.e. amino acids which compose of nitrogen.
Stimulus to Engage:
How do you get the students interested in the topic to start?
• Divide class into groups of three.
• Distribute multiple pictures of various items relating to the nitrogen cycle as well as scripted information. Examples:
Pictures of lightning, roots of clover (legumes), amino acid structure, Bacteria, animal desiccating, healthy plant and
a nitrogen deficient plant, fertilizer, animal manure...etc
• Allocate a time slot of 30 seconds to each group to observe the image handed to them; after this time the picture is
passed on to receive a new image.
• The objective of this stimulus is for the groups to discover the topic of today’s lesson.
Science Questions
Initial questions leading to the questions students will work on during the activity:
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Bacteria’s role in the nitrogen cycle?
Why do plants need nitrogen?
Why do plants need protein?
Composition of protein?
What does inert mean...What is the problem with atmospheric nitrogen for most animals and plants.
What is the meaning of symbiotic?
Does the composition of air effect our lives?
Why do we need oxygen and not nitrogen?
Learning Outcomes
Content Knowledge:
• The vital importance of nitrogen on our planet.
• The many pathways involved in making nitrogen available/ Learn that the nitrogen cycle is complex and non linear
travelling between organisms and the physical environment.
• Knowledge of the various organisms involved in the nitrogen cycle.
Process:
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Working in teams of three to determine the topic of the lesson.
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Discussion on what each image represented.
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Developing the student’s knowledge by showing a video on the nitrogen cycle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XC7xT0mIbY
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Students will participate in a game, the nitrogen passport. Students will work in the same group of 3 as allocated
earlier in the lesson. There will be numerous stations laid out, example: a station where the impact lightning has on
the nitrogen cycle is explained. Students will roll a dice and depending on the result will progress to a different station
following the pathway of their nitrogen atoms, filling in a passport card as they work through the stations. (Please
refer to the links in activities below ☺ ).
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Finish the lesson on summarising with the word wall activity where students place new vocabulary learned that day in
relation to the nitrogen cycle. (This integrates literacy).
Skills:
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Working in groups - teamwork
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Creative thinking - making predictions
Questions during Activity
Questions to drive student learning (directing them to the learning outcomes):
• If nitrogen wasn’t recycled how this would affect our planet?
• What relationship does nitrogen have in relation to proteins?
• How do humans get nitrogen in their diet?
Questions to probe understanding:
• Considering the importance of nitrogen to plants, is there more than one way it is made accessible to them?
• Where can symbiosis be seen in the nitrogen cycle?
Questions to get students thinking about their own learning (metacognition):
• Do you think we (Humans) can cause modification to the nitrogen cycle? (eg. Fertilizers, burning fossil fuels, live
stock farming)
• How could one carry out an experiment to test the levels of nitrogen in the soil? Who would carry out such tests and
why?
Developing the Activity
How do you stimulate students to ask even more questions/think further?
• Initiate student discussion on how they may impact the nitrogen cycle.
• By showing the video, as suggested above stimulates students to think of how the nitrogen cycle doesn’t just apply to
soil but in various environments such as under water.
Possible supporting activities:
• Student learning stations (explained in more detail above).
• Below are the links to the various apparatus required for the work stations, the passport worksheet, and a lesson
summary of the activity.
https://amsprd0111.outlook.com/owa/?ae=Dialog&t=WacHost&id=RgAAAADkF3FuP6pYS7iKmsCA2yJoBwASr1K5yY%
2bjSYFl3%2fzq0aslAAAAAEiWAABeFOdIhD1IRbjhPnZEhs70AAAaSLmbAAAJ&attid0=BAACAAAA&attcnt=1&pspid
=_1362997531668_107736951
https://amsprd0111.outlook.com/owa/WebReadyView.aspx?t=att&id=RgAAAADkF3FuP6pYS7iKmsCA2yJoBwASr1K5yY%
2bjSYFl3%2fzq0aslAAAAAEiWAABeFOdIhD1IRbjhPnZEhs70AAAaSLmbAAAJ&attid0=BAABAAAA&attcnt=1&pspid=_1362
997531668_107736951
https://amsprd0111.outlook.com/owa/?ae=Dialog&t=WacHost&id=RgAAAADkF3FuP6pYS7iKmsCA2yJoBwASr1K5yY%
2bjSYFl3%2fzq0aslAAAAAEiWAABeFOdIhD1IRbjhPnZEhs70AAAaSLmbAAAJ&attid0=BAAAAAAA&attcnt=1&pspid=_13629
97531668_107736951
Questions for supporting activities:
• What are the different pathways available to the plant in obtaining nitrogen from the atmosphere?
• Which pathway do you think is most efficient?
Reflecting back to Learning Outcomes
• How many of your intended outcomes were achieved?
• Teacher - what worked well /what didn’t work
• Student - can the student link the information they have obtained today to everyday life?
Do any of your intended outcomes need to be revised?
The expectation would be that students would be able to recall the names of the different organisms, nitrogen fixing bacteria,
denitrifying bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, and describe the different pathways converting nitrogen gas to nitrates by, nitrification,
denitrification and decay.
Additional Resources
Stimulus materials, websites, etc.:
Extra Nitrogen Game link:
https://www.classzone.com/books/ml_science_share/vis_sim/em05_pg20_nitrogen/em05_pg20_nitrogen.swf
Nitrogen Cycle Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XC7xT0mIbY
How has the use of ICT enhanced the learning?
Evidence of enhancement:
Additional Comments
Rebecca Conlon
Megan Harley Warnock
10126457
10098356
Date:
4/03/2013