What To Do With The Poo? Distance Learning

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1 What To Do With The Poo? Distance Learning Summary and Goals Students will understand the importance of recycling responsibly and understand the process in which a composting system transforms organic wastes into a new usable product. Grade Levels Grades 3-5 Engage This activity is designed to start your students in recognizing themselves as researchers and in thinking critically about problem-solving. The goal is to teach concepts through discovery and to encourage using scientific thought processes. As with all lessons provided, please feel free to adapt them according to your students abilities. Some of your students may be early readers, in which case you may find it more successful to lead activities and discussions as a whole group rather than using individual Research Plan sheets. Certain scientific vocabulary may or may not be appropriate for your students level of understanding. Take these ideas, make them your own and your students will have a greater chance at success. How much waste could be reduced if we recycled and/or composted at our school lunch? 1. Begin this lesson by telling students that they will be investigating composting. 2. If your students are familiar with brainstorming and recording their ideas, break them into small groups. If your students need more guidance, work with them as a large group. Engage your students in a discussion of what they predict the answer to the question to be. More importantly, why do they think this? 3. What types of things around your home or school end up in the trash? How could we limit these items? Explore 4. Continue with the above discussion and encourage the group to come up with ways they could investigate the question and test their predictions scientifically (all suggestions are welcomed). What tools might they need to carry out their suggested explorations? Are there materials that would help them find the answer? Should they be making observations? What kinds of records will they need to keep? What will they do with the information once they have it? And how will they know that they ve

2 successfully answered the question? Allow a wide variety of ideas and encourage conversation amongst the students to refine the details of their ideas. 5. Have students research the words compost and recycle. 6. Ideas should be recorded on the Research Plan sheets. Small groups can record their own answers or you can record ideas as a group. 7. Have students make a list of things that could be composted and recycled at home or at school and how they might be able to use the compost. 8. Inform students that they will be monitoring the amount of waste that they generate during school lunch for a week. They will only monitor the amount of waste that their class generates, not the entire school. 9. Students will need to determine how to separate their lunch waste from the rest of the school and how to keep track of the amount each day. Amounts should be recorded for later use. Explain 10. Explain to the group that they will be participating in the What To Do With The Poo? Distance Learning program that might help to give them some insight into the situation. 11. The program will address reducing, recycling, and reusing, how the Zoo manages its waste, food chains and food webs, biology in a compost pile, and the composting process at the Zoo. Expand 12. Ask students to reflect on what they have learned and review their ideas of how to get the information they would need to answer the original research question. What are the benefits of composting and recycling? What steps would they have to take to be able to compost and recycle at home or at school? 13. Using the Starting a Compost Pile at Home supplemental information, discuss with your students the idea of starting a compost pile at home or at school to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, and to benefit gardens, lawns, and flowerbeds. 14. Allow students to discuss and plan how they could make the activity more successful. Do they need to gather any additional information before they can answer the research question? Did they think of additional ways to gather information based on the activities they have just completed? 15. Feel free to repeat any of the activities in any number of ways.

3 Assess 16. Monitor your students as they continue to research and develop their method for communicating their results. Make sure to help them continue their discussion on composting. Have your students share their results with the rest of the class. Allow time for student critique and comments. 17. Was the outcome the same as what they had predicted? How difficult would it be to reduce the amount of waste around their own home or school? 18. If the students are working in small groups, observe their work and review what they are writing on the Research Plan. If working as a whole group, fill in the Research Plan together. Standards Ohio Academic Content Standards Grades 3-5 Life Science Topic: Behavior, Growth, and Changes Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments Life Science Topic: Interactions within Ecosystems Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy Earth and Space Science Topic: Earth's Resources Earth's resources can be used for energy Some of Earth's resources are limited

4 Standards (continued) Science as Inquiry Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Understandings about scientific inquiry Life Science Characteristics of organisms Life cycles of organisms Organisms and environment Earth and Space Science Properties of earth materials Objects in the sky Changes in earth and sky Science in Personal and Social Perspectives Personal health Characteristics and changes in populations Types of resources Changes in environments Science and technology in local challenges History and Nature of Science Science as a human endeavor Science as Inquiry Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Understandings about scientific inquiry Physical Science Properties and changes of properties in matter Motions and forces Transfer of energy Life Science Structure and function in living systems Reproduction and heredity Regulation and behavior Populations and ecosystems Diversity and adaptations of organisms Science in Personal and Social Perspectives Personal health Populations, resources, and environments Natural hazards Risks and benefits Science and technology in society National Science Education Standards Grades K-4 Grades 5-8

5 What To Do With The Poo? Supplemental Materials My Research Plan 1. What is my research question? Is it a good question? How much waste could be reduced if we recycled and/or composted at our school lunch? 2. How can I get my information? 3. What will I do with this information? 4. How will I know I did my job well?

6 What To Do With The Poo? Supplemental Materials Starting a Compost Pile at Home What you will need: A bin to collect materials in the bin can be constructed of wire, lumber, snow fence, hay bales, bricks, railroad ties, or wooden pallets. The pile will need good airflow on all sides. You may want to have more than one bin; one to collect materials in and one to make your compost. A good finished pile size is about 3-5 feet wide and high. You will also need access to water and a garden fork, shovel, or similar tool for turning and mixing the materials in the pile. Gathering materials: Anything that comes from plant materials can be composted. Also, some animal manure can be composted if that animal eats only plant material. The organisms that work on the pile to break it down need both carbon (for energy) and nitrogen (for protein) food sources. The nitrogen materials are described as green because they are fresh and they are usually high in moisture and decompose quickly. The brown carbon materials are dry and decompose more slowly. Here are some examples of each type of food source: Carbon Brown Nitrogen Green Sawdust Vegetable scraps Dead leaves Grass clippings Cornstalks Weeds Straw Fruit peelings Wood chips Dead plants and trimmings Newspaper Manure Coffee grounds It is best to combine the ingredients with slightly more browns (2 parts) than greens (1 part). NEVER use any of these materials in your compost pile because they will attract unwanted animals and may cause unpleasant odors: Meat or bones Grease or fatty foods Cat, dog, or human wastes Dairy products Coal ashes Diseased plants

7 Starting your pile: Start by layering one material, either green or brown, then the opposite material. If the pieces are chopped up or shredded, the pile will break down faster. Shovel in a scoop of soil to add microorganisms to the pile. As you add more materials, turn your pile to mix them in. Do not leave fresh wastes exposed. Turning the pile helps speed up the decomposition process by creating new spaces for oxygen and moisture. Turning helps to maintain the active population of microorganisms throughout the pile and gets them working again by supplying them with new food to start decomposing. Add moisture as you build or turn your pile. The pile should be slightly damp throughout, but not soggy. If the pile gets too wet, odors may occur. Add dry, carbon materials or turn the pile to spread out the moisture through the pile to fix this problem. The compost will be finished in about 4-6 months if all the conditions are right: The mix of ingredients (2 parts brown, 1 part green) The pile is turned often to keep the oxygen and temperature levels up (the more active the organisms, the higher the temperature) The pile is kept just as moist enough throughout (like a damp sponge) The finished product should be: Fluffy and crumbly Smell earthy and a little sweet Be dark in color, but not black How can you use your finished compost? Use it as a mulch by spreading 2-3 inches around plants, trees, and shrubs Use it to improve your lawn by raking in 1-2 inches Mix 2-4 inches into your garden at planting time and the compost will release its nutrients over the growing season