Background Information for Teachers

This section provides resources to enhance your content knowledge of each of the processes and compounds involved in the nitrogen cycle. The first resources are quick reminders of the structure of DNA and proteins—the essential macromolecules of living things which require nitrogen and a big reason we are interested in familiarizing students with the nitrogen cycle. A second reason for learning about the nitrogen cycle is related to nitrogen-containing pollutants and the role of human activity in the nitrogen cycle, for which we also provide resources in this section.

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Nucleic Acids: DNA and RNA http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=63

This lesson is an introduction to the structure and function of DNA, including the process of DNA replication. MSP full record

The Biotechnology Project: Chapter 2: Protein Structure http://matcmadison.edu/biotech/resources/proteins/labManual/chapter_2.htm

This chapter provides a brief background into the structure of proteins and how this structure can determine the function and activity of proteins. It is not intended to substitute for the more detailed information provided in a biochemistry or cell biology course. MSP full record

Atmospheric Gases Major Composition http://sunshine.chpc.utah.edu/labs/atmosphere/atm_composition.swf

On this activity page, part of an interactive laboratory series for grades 8-12, a pie chart displays information about and percentages of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, and other gases of minute quantity. The pie chart breaks into additional pie charts when students investigate the smaller quantities. MSP full record

The Nitrogen Cycle: Of Microbes and Men http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=98

This module provides an overview of the nitrogen cycle and the chemical changes that govern the cycle. MSP full record

Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology: Human Alteration of the Global Nitrogen Cycle http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v1/figure_sets/nitrogen/nitrogen.html

In this unit, aimed at undergraduates, students explore large-scale anthropogenic changes to the nitrogen cycle by examining studies that document anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen globally, nitrogen saturation of temperate forests, the export of nitrogen from rivers to the ocean, and the ecology of Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake Bay. Click on the "Figure Set" tab to find four questions for inquiry and reference articles for each question. MSP full record

Unit 9 Soil Organisms and Nitrogen Cycle: Chapter 2 Nitrogen Cycle http://www.soils.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil2125/doc/s9chap2.htm

This chapter is about the important role soil bacteria play in providing nitrogen for plant growth via the nitrogen cycle. The cycle moves atmospheric nitrogen into organic N, converts it into ammonia N and next into nitrate N, and finally back to atmospheric N. Color line drawings and photographs of plants and bacteria enhance the text. You may wish to use some of the images and text to provide students with textual material. MSP full record

The Important Nutrient Nitrogen http://www.ucar.edu/communications/gcip/m4bgchem/m4pdfc5.pdf

If you want greater detail than is provided in the resource above, read this seven-page learning module aimed at undergraduates who are not science majors. It describes the nitrogen cycle and illustrates the details with line drawings, giving you background information and positioning you to make good decisions regarding which content you wish for your students to learn and how. (This is a page from the Global Change Instruction Program.) MSP full record

JGI Nitrosomonas europaea ATCC 19718 http://genome.jgi-psf.org/finished_microbes/niteu/niteu.home.html

This resource illustrates the relationship between the nitrogen and carbon cycles. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy initiative to explore the role of microorganisms in global carbon sequestration, the Joint Genome Institute is sequencing the autotrophic nitrifying bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea. This organism plays a central role in the availability of nitrogen to plants and hence in limiting C0₂ fixation. These bacteria are important players in the treatment of industrial and sewage waste in the first step of oxidizing ammonia to nitrate. MSP full record

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Copyright July 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.