Lesson Plan

Building Your Own Biosphere

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet

On September 26, 1991, four women and four men entered the scientific experiment, Biosphere 2; the doors were sealed for two years in order to study the interactions of a biosphere. In the activity, scholars explore biospheres by building one of their own. Learners write hypotheses, gather all materials, build the biosphere, and collect data for one month to determine if their hypotheses were correct.

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CCSS: Adaptable
NGSS: Adaptable
Additional Tags
Instructional Ideas
  • Set up and briefly discuss biospheres at the beginning of a unit on ecosystems, biomes, or environmental issues and conclude the unit by analyzing the data collected
Classroom Considerations
  • Due to costs, teachers may want to set up one terrarium per class instead of one per two students
  • Set up takes one day and then groups monitor terrariums, collecting data for one month
  • It is the seventh activity in a series of 10
Pros
  • Includes assessment for oral report
  • Contains follow-through and extension activities
Cons
  • None
Common Core
NGSS