Garbage

Make a list of things that can be recycled.

How long does trash last? Using this activity lesson from Education World, do the experiment suggested and then write about what you discovered.

Write a letter to a real or imaginary friend explaining to them why it is important to recycle, reduce waste, or conserve resources.

Gather household items that might be thrown away by most people. Make a list of useful ways that those items could be repurposed. Write an organized description of each of these possible uses. Do some research and get creative — you might think of a use for something that no one else will think of.

Sort and count the number of each type of object in the recycling bin in the classroom.

How much waste need not be sent to the landfill? Towards the end of the day, go through the garbage cans in your classroom. Sort the materials into groups: things thrown away that could have been recycled, reused or repurposed; and things that are trash. You might include cans from other classrooms in your collections. Look for paper clips, crayons, cardboard and pencils, for example. Weigh your collections to see how much trash isn't actually trash. Have a class discussion about what could be done to make changes.

Gather compostable matter and create a compost bin on your school property. Weigh all of the matter as you deposit it in the heap. Measure the volume. Weigh it when it has completed its decomposition. Measure the volume again. Is there a difference? Discuss how and why. What can you do with your compost? Create a table of your findings.

Plants and animals can change their environment.

Things that people do can affect the world around them. People can reduce their effects on the land, water, air, and other living things. Examples of human influence on the land could include keeping plastic trash out of waterways and recycling cans and bottles. Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem's solutions to other people.

Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.

When the environment changes in ways that affect a place’s physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into the transformed environment, and some die. Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there.

Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases and water, from the environment, and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants and animals) and therefore operate as decomposers. Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil.

Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. Individuals and communities can often mitigate these effects through innovation and technology.

Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.

Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on—for example, water purification and recycling.

Human activities can positively and negatively influence the biosphere, sometimes altering natural habitats and ecosystems. Technology and engineering can potentially help us best manage natural resources as populations increase. Examples of the design process include examining human interactions and designing feasible solutions that promote stewardship. Examples can include water usage, land usage, and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).

Technology and engineering can potentially help us best manage natural resources as populations increase. Examples of evidence include grade-appropriate databases on human populations and the rates of consumption of food and natural resources. Examples of effects can include changes made to the appearance, composition, and structure of Earth’s systems as well as the rates at which they change.

Students explore and engage in a design process and employ it to generate ideas, consider solutions, plan to solve a problem, create innovative products, or solve authentic problems that are shared with others.  Students use digital and nondigital tools to plan, manage, and support a design process and expand their understanding to identify constraints and trade-offs and to weigh risks.

Students engage in a cyclical design process to develop prototypes and reflect on the role that trial and error plays. Students test and revise prototypes, embracing the cyclical process of trial and error and understanding problems or setbacks as potential opportunities for improvement.