Compost
Students will practice asking scientific questions and gain experience designing an experiment to answer a question. Students will learn about compost and how trash is composed of two different waste: organic and inorganic.
Lesson Partners: PBS LearningMedia
Essential Question
What is a decomposer? What is the difference between organic and inorganic waste?
Grade(s):
- 3
Subject(s):
Recommended Technology:
-Computer
-Smart Board
Other Instructional Materials or Notes:
-Computer
-Smart Board
-6 clean jars
- Trash: Apple core, piece of plastic, leaves from outside, a piece of bread, aluminum foil, and a piece of paper.
-Soil from outside for jars
- Science journals for each student
-Pencils
Lesson Progression
- The teacher will begin the lesson by presenting the objects to the students. Allow students to observe and touch the objects. Have students write what they observe in their science notebooks and the answers to the questions they discuss with their classmates.
What do you notice about the objects? Size? Shape?
Is there anything that some of the objects have in common?
Is there anything that makes some of the objects different?
- Explain to students that they will be conducting an experiment to see how the objects will change over time.
- Place each item in a jar, making sure it is near the side of the glass. Fill each jar up with soil. *Students should help in doing this. Leave items in the jar for 6-8 weeks. Based on the questioning ‘how will these objects change over time?’ have students come up with a hypothesis for the experiment and write it in their science notebooks.
- Add a few drops of water over the 6-8 weeks to keep the soil moist. The students should record their observations over the weeks in their science notebooks. At the end of the 6-8 week period, students should record their final observation. There should be a major difference in the objects.
- Students should then analyze their data. Using the information they gathered over the weeks, they should see if their hypothesis is correct or not. Was their prediction correct? What evidence do they have to support this?
- Have students write a summary of what happened over time to each piece of trash. Have them think about the following questions when writing their summary:
Which object changed the most? Why?
Which didn’t decompose at all? Why?
Compare and Contrast the objects at the end of the experiment.
What did you learn from this experiment?
- Discuss with students what the term ‘decompose’ means. Discuss with students how the objects decomposed and why that might have happened and why some did not. Tell students the difference between organic and inorganic waste. Which objects were organic or inorganic in the experiment and how do you know? Also discuss with students a few decomposers and why they are important to our environment.
How to Make a Composter | Full-Time Kid
View ResourceStandards
- Science and Engineering Practices
- 3.S.1 The student will use the science and engineering practices, including the processes and skills of scientific inquiry, to develop understandings of science content.
- 3.S.1A The practices of science and engineering support the development of science concepts, develop the habits of mind that are necessary for scientific thinking, and allow students to engage in science in ways that are similar to those used by scient...
- 3.S.1 The student will use the science and engineering practices, including the processes and skills of scientific inquiry, to develop understandings of science content.
Assessments
The students will be assessed through the observations and note-taking they do in their science journals over the course of the experiment. The students’ summary’s should be assessed as well.