Part of Lesson Plan: Nitrogen Cycle in Agriculture- Jennifer Terpstra

Activity Overview / Details

As a lab group, students will participate in the Nitrogen Olympics.
First, students will begin with the Nitrogen Diagram Match-up: Copy and laminate the a diagram and set of match-up pieces (cut pieces out) and place a set in a manila envelope. When you give students the signal, they empty the envelope and place the pieces in the correct places on the diagram. When a group believes they have all pieces placed correctly, they must call over the instructor to approve their work. Once approved, give them their next envelope. That envelope will contain the second Olympic activity. Several plant names will be cut out and laminated. Some are legumes, the rest are not. It is their job to pull out the five legumes from a whole set of random plants. There are more randoms that there are legumes to make it more challenging. Laminate and cut out the plant words and put them in an envelope (be sure to mix them up). Once they believe they have all five legumes, they must call you over to verify they have the correct five plants (the legumes) from the envelope. Students will move on to the third event. Verbally tell them they must go outdoors and return with one example of a biotic and abiotic outdoor element that would each contain nitrogen. Outside my classroom is our horticulture area and the football field, so students generally return with a handful or grass and a handful of soil. Teachers can modify these activities, especially the third activity depending on the location of their classroom. The group who finishes first wins. Students will be moving very quickly, and this entire activity probably takes no more than 10 minutes. If directions are given for each activity before the Olympics start, then it will really go fast. Doing it this way also makes it easier for the teacher and directions don't have to be constantly be repeated.