IOWA 4-9 SCIENCE PROJECT
TEACHER GUIDE for: Buried "Trashure" Lynn Lehman, Julie
Render, and Mike Tompkins
Ecology 468 Grade 4-6
CONCEPT OBJECTIVE:
The student will become aware that most buried trash does not decompose
during a nine month period (one school year).
The student will become aware that reusing or recycling trash will reduce
the volume of waste in landfills.
PROCESS OBJECTIVE:
The student will use the skills of predicting, observing, recording, investigating,
measuring, classifying, valuing, and excavating.
TEACHER NOTES
This activity may follow Ecology.465 (The Litter Walk).
At the beginning of the year, the teacher will take the class on a picnic
to a site at which students will be able to bury their trash (including
food scraps and containers). Care should be taken that the site is adequately
marked, so that it can be easily located in the spring. Some of the trash
could be buried as is, some in paper bags, some in plastic garbage bags,
and the remainder in corn starch (photodegradable) plastic bags.
Following the excavation activity in the spring, be sure to pick up all
remaining trash and dispose of it properly. Care should also be taken to
restore the land to a reasonable facsimile of its previous state.
MATERIALS
For Fall:
2 paper bags
2 plastic garbage bags
2 corn starch-based plastic bags (photodegradable)
4 shovels
lunches brought by individuals from home
data sheets and pencils
For Spring:
4 shovels
several hand trowels
several 1-3" paintbrushes
containers to haul trash away when finished
data sheets and pencils
EXPLORATION
(This activity may be introduced by a field trip to a landfill.)
Take the students on a picnic to an area suitable for burying trash. (See
Teacher Notes.)
After eating lunch, students list all waste items remaining. They then are
encouraged to predict which items will decompose completely, decompose partially,
or remain intact over a period of one school year. Students sort trash into
the three above categories, and record on data sheets. (Teacher may wish
to collect and save these for use in the spring.)
Once trash is classified, a relatively equal amount of each group should
be placed into each of the following: a paper sack, a non-degradable plastic
sack, a photo-degradable plastic sack, and as a control, no sack.
Students can then dig a long trench deep enough to cover the trash with
approximately one foot of soil. A marker should be placed above each kind
of trash bag (or no bag) to ensure easy identification in the spring. (Allow
the children to use creativity to write an epitaph for their markers.)
Sometime in the spring, again take the class to the site of the buried trash.
After reviewing predictions, students carefully excavate the site and record
their findings.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
After eating lunch, ask students to predict which of the items in their
own lunches will either decompose partially, completely, or not at all.
Introduce the following vocabulary: decomposers, biodegradable, photodegradable,
non-degradable, recyclable.
In the spring, explain to students the process of excavating an archaeological
site, and emphasize the necessity of using care when removing the trash.
After excavating, students sort through the remaining items and separate
them into categories by types of material.
Compare actual results with predictions made in the Fall, using the data
sheets which were saved by the teacher.
Brainstorm ways of reducing the volume of trash.
APPLICATION
1. Students will investigate requirements of sorting and cleaning recyclable
items by contacting or visiting local recyclers.
2. Visit a local sanitary landfill to view waste disposal.
3. Have students write a contract with themselves to reduce the
volume of their own lunchtime trash. (An example might be to carry food
in reuseable containers.) This activity work well in cooperative learning
groups.
3. Build a model landfill.
4. A possible follow-up cycle may be Ecology.466.
EVALUATION
Student data sheets.
Student participation and teacher observation.
Student contracts for reducing waste.
Name____________________________ Date________________
Buried Trashure
List ALL of the trash in your lunch in one of the following categories.
Include food scraps and throwaway packaging.
WILL COMPLETELY | WILL PARTIALLY | WILL NOT
DECOMPOSE | DECOMPOSE | DECOMPOSE
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