Students explore the biosphere's environments and ecosystems, learning along the way about the plants, animals, resources and natural cycles of our planet. Over the course of lessons 2-6, students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems - exploring energy and nutrient flows, basic needs of plants and animals, and decomposers. Students learn about food chains and food webs. They are introduced to the roles of the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles. They test the effects of photosynthesis and transpiration. Students are introduced to animal classifications and interactions, including carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, predator and prey. They learn about biomimicry and how engineers often imitate nature in the design of new products. As everyday applications are interwoven into the lessons, students consider why a solid understanding of one's environment and the interdependence within ecosystems can inform the choices we make and the way we engineer our communities.

Students learn how rooftop gardens help the environment and the lives of people, especially in urban areas. They gain an understanding of how plants reduce the urban heat island effect, improve air quality, provide agriculture space, reduce energy consumption and increase the aesthetic quality of cities. This draws upon the science of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation, materials, color) and ecology (plants, shade, carbon dioxide, photosynthesis), and the engineering requirements for rooftop gardens. In the associated activity, students apply their scientific knowledge to model and measure the effects of green roofs.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Plants are shaped by the many microbes they host. But scientists are only beginning to understand how, especially in underexplored plant structures like aerial roots. A new study shows that the mucilage secreted by these roots can create a microbiome unlike that found in underground roots and nurture an environment that caters to beneficial, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Researchers made these discoveries by examining the aerial roots of pink lady shrubs—a fast-growing invasive plant. Metabolite profiling of aerial root mucilage revealed a rich cocktail of nutrients that would be expected to support an equally rich variety of microbes. But genomic analyses suggested a mucilage community dominated by nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs. This homogeneous community structure was linked to the presence of the fungus C. raphigera. The antibacterial activity of this fungus was such that only diazotrophs were allowed to thrive, to the benefit of the pink lady shrubs..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students learn about energy and nutrient flow in various biosphere climates and environments. They learn about herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, food chains and food webs, seeing the interdependence between producers, consumers and decomposers. Students are introduced to the roles of the hydrologic (water), carbon, and nitrogen cycles in sustaining the worlds' ecosystems so living organisms survive. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam core board, one with a "green roof" and the other with a black tar paper roof. They measure and graph the ambient and inside building temperatures while under heat lamps and fans. Then students analyze the data and determine whether the rooftop gardens are beneficial to the inhabitants.

During Apollo 15 astronauts James Irwin and Dave Scott found a rock on the Moon that became known as the Genesis Rock.

This lesson will help students understand how to work as a forensic meterologist. Students will watch a short video of an area experiencing increased weather and storms. Through the use of prompts, students will be able to create a model of what they think is happening and then use that pre-model in other lessons to figure out how water and heat from the sun increase stroms.