Total Duration: |
61 to 90 Minutes |
Materials and Resources: |
Copies of the following worksheets: Tons of Trash p. 10 SURC Education Kit Boxes, Bags, and Bottles p. 28 SURC Education Kit Ten different plastic containers per group for the Plastic Parade p. 17-18 SURC Education Kit investigation. Have Students bring in plastic containers for their group or begin collecting plastic containers at least a week before the activity. The following items are needed for the Biodegradable? p. 25-26, SURC Education Kit investigation. 1 milk carton or container to represent landfill 1 piece of plastic bag Enough dirt or potting soil for each group Water Container Enough lettuce for each group to have a small piece |
Technology Resources Needed: |
Computer and projector Interactive Whiteboard or Interactive Tablet (Optional) Document Camera (Optional) Computer lab with Internet access (Optional) Java must be installed or enabled |
Background/Preparation: |
Students are divided into diverse cooperative learning groups of four. Cooperative learning groups should be blended with various ethnicities including both girls and boys. Higher achieving students should be combined with the lower achieving students. Review vocabulary terms recycling, reusing, incinerating, use of landfill, and composting. |
Engage: Humans produce 246 million tons of waste every year. What does the human trash footprint look like? View Trash Footprint, National Geographic Channel. Explore: Before the exploration, students will hypothesize how many bags of garbage the class produces in a year. 1. Calculate the number of bags of trash that the student and class make in a week by completing the Tons of Trash p. 10 SURC Education Kit worksheet. 2. Complete the investigation Biodegradable? p. 25-26 SURC Education Kit. What happens to buried garbage? 3. How much garbage is in our lunch? Students will discover how much garbage the class makes with their lunch by completing the Boxes, Bags, and Bottles p. 28 SURC Education Kit investigation. 4. Are most plastics recyclable? Students answer the question by completing the Plastic Parade p. 17-18 SURC Education Kit investigation. Explain: Students will report on how many bags of garbage the class produces in a year and explain how their calculations compared with their hypothesis.
ELABORATION: Working in cooperative learning groups, students will: Apply what they have learned about how much trash they produce to research the effects of trash disposal on the local ecosystem including the effects on the population in the area. The group will then design a solution to the problem and prepare evidence to argue why their solution will work. Research the effects of landfills on the shifts in local populations. Each group will create a solution to the trash problem and present their design to the class. Each group will prepare a presentation to support their research and argue using evidence on why their design would be best. |
Assessment Strategies |
All worksheets can be evaluated for student understanding. Class discussion and student response can be assessed for student understanding of the use of empirical evidence from patterns and data to demonstrate how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem because of the human activity of producing trash can lead to shifts in populations. Example Scoring Rubric for Oral Presentation from Read, Write, Think can be used to assess group presentations. |
Acceleration: |
The Southern Utah Recycling Coalition offers an excellent SURC Education Kit that provides teachers with a wealth of activities to choose from to extend their lessons on reducing, reusing, or recycling. The following investigations are some suggestions for students or groups that finish early could complete and report the findings to the class. Dirty Water p. 45 SURC Education Kit Juice Boxes p. 16 SURC Education Kit What We Use Today Affects What We Have Tomorrow p. 66 SURC Education Kit |
Intervention: |
Allow students who need more time to complete their project at home. Use some of the projects from students who finish early for students who need remediation to use as an example. Assign a peer tutor to work with students who need extra assistance.
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View the Special Education resources for
instructional guidance in providing modifications and adaptations
for students with significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for the Alabama Alternate Assessment.
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