High School
NGSS Performance Expectation
HS-ESS3-6Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
The HS-ESS3-6 standard asks students to use a computational model to show how Earth systems are connected and how human activities change those relationships. Students need to move beyond observation and use a tool that lets them change variables, run scenarios, and see outcomes.
The Carbon Cycle simulation is a computational model that shows how carbon moves among the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. The simulation reveals where carbon goes. Students see which reservoirs accumulate it, how long it stays, and what happens when the system is out of balance.
The simulation responds to student inputs instantly. This immediate feedback helps students see that Earth systems are connected. A change in one part propagates to others. That is the core of this standard.
Students control three variables that directly affect how carbon moves: the emissions slider (fossil fuel burning), the deforestation slider (land use change), and the ability to watch what accumulates where (tracking carbon in the atmosphere, soils, oceans, and living things).
By adjusting emissions and deforestation, students see carbon pools grow or shrink. The model shows explicitly which reservoirs are accumulating carbon and which are losing it. This visibility teaches the quantitative relationships the standard asks for. Students are not just identifying that humans affect systems, but tracking exactly how and where.
The simulation lets students explore the mechanism: more emissions add carbon to the atmosphere; deforestation removes a carbon sink (trees) and releases stored carbon; oceans absorb atmospheric carbon over time; soils and vegetation accumulate or release carbon depending on land-use decisions.
Students run multiple scenarios and develop the insight that Earth systems have limits. Adding carbon faster than the system can absorb it causes accumulation in the atmosphere. Removing forests weakens the biosphere's capacity to absorb future emissions. These are the relationships and modifications the standard asks students to understand.
The Carbon Cycle
All simulations come with built-in standards-aligned questions and a live class dashboard. Share a join code and watch student thinking arrive in real time.