IOWA 4-9 SCIENCE PROJECT

TEACHER GUIDE for: The Litter Walk Julie Render
Candi Kilburg, editor
ECOLOGY.465 Grade 4-6

CONCEPT OBJECTIVE:

Students will participate in a litter walk to observe many different kinds of items which make up litter.

PROCESS OBJECTIVE:

Students will use the skills of predicting, observation, classifying and recording.

TEACHER NOTES

Before beginning a walk outdoors, ground rules should be carefully laid. These will include any boundaries of physical location as well as of behavior. For instance, students must always stay within the teacher's sight. It may also be helpful to carry a whistle to use when gathering students together.

You may wish to give students paper grocery bags or buckets for picking up litter. Shopping bags with handles are sturdier, but more difficult to find. Plastic garbage bags rip easily, and should only be used if you can afford to get heavy duty ones, however, these are not biodegradable!

Students should be encouraged to bring work gloves to wear while handling litter during pick up activity, and during concept development.

MATERIALS

large container for each group of 3-4 students
notebook and pencil for data collection

EXPLORATION

What is litter? Where is it most likely to be found?

Discuss with the students that they will be taking a walk to find litter. They will be asked to pick up any litter they find in the specified area for further study. Ask them to record location of litter, type of litter, and any other pertinent information in their notebooks to be shared with the class later.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

After returning to the classroom, have students brainstorm categories to use for sorting and classifying the types of litter they found. (i.e.: paper, fast food trash, plastic, pop cans and bottles, etc.) The teacher can develop a chart on the overhead or the board to be used during concept development and insert the names of the categories that students have brainstormed.

The reporter (to be chosen at the time of sharing) from each group will be asked to share with the class any observation his/
her group made while on their walk. Compare with observations of the other groups. Are there patterns forming? Possible questions to ask students: Where was most of the litter found? (near the park, in the picnic area, by a convenience store, near the curb, in the street, on lawns) Was there more of a certain kind of litter found in one place than in another? (For instance, more pop cans in ditches than on lawns?) What might explain the differences you found?

APPLICATION

1. Test the effect of exposure to the environment on paper litter. (See ECOLOGY 46# The Disappearing Paper Trick)

2. Estimate how much litter (by weight or volume) can be found within a city block (or a country mile), on the school playground, or on the football field (or baseball diamond). Design an experiment to test your prediction. Graph your results.

3. Organize your school in a widespread litter clean-up of your town or countryside, around the playground, or in the halls and classrooms. Enlist adult assistance where needed.

4. Conduct a survey of adults to find out if they would be willing to sort various types of household waste (plastic milk jugs, aluminum cans, etc.) for recycling. Follow up by collecting some of these items and arranging to have them taken to a recycling center.

EVALUATION

Perhaps the best evaluation will take place as you observe the participation of the students during the litter walk. You will also find the observations they made on their walk to be useful in assessing their work.