National Park Service
Reduce Our Carbon Footprint, Let’s Compost!
Roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty with this elementary and middle school compost lesson. All you need is a large plastic container, a couple old newspapers, some organic waste, and a few hundred worms and you're ready to start...
Teach Engineering
Investigating the Properties of Plastic and its Effects on the Environment
Pore over the properties of plastic. Working through four different stations, pupils investigate some properties of plastic, including chemical decomposition, mechanical breakdown, density, and the ability to infiltrate the food chain....
Curated OER
Observing Decomposition
In this science worksheet, students focus upon the concept of decomposition and collect data in order to make interpretations or observations.
Teach Engineering
Dirty Decomposers
Do not let the class just sit and rot. Pupils learn how decomposition and nutrient recycling is important to an ecosystem. Groups design an experiment to determine how environmental conditions affect decomposition. They develop a poster...
Curated OER
A Design You’ll Dig: Designing a Habitat for Worms
Students discover how worms contribute to the balance of the environment. In this composting lesson plan, students study the composting and decomposition processes. Students then create habitats for worms that allow them to do their jobs.
Curated OER
Marine Debris
Now is the time to educate tomorrow's citizens to care for the planet, and here is a instructional activity to help facilitate the process. Collect some marine debris and bring it into class. Have your class separate it into types and...
Curated OER
Compost Lesson
If you are looking for how to introduce elementary environmentalists to the process of composting, here is a comprehensive outline for making it happen. The plan is to set this up at the beginning of a school year in order to observe the...
Curated OER
Buried Treasure
Students examine the role of micro and macro organisms in the decomposition process. They record their observations and discuss. They also read a book about decomposition.
Curated OER
A Symphony of Decomposers
Students discover decomposition. In this environmental lesson, students explore different types of decomposers and their role within the ecosystem. Students also discover how waste interferes with the decomposition process.
Curated OER
Let's Build a Worm Bin
Students explore the process of decomposition. For this ecology and measurement lesson, students prepare a worm home to be used for vermicomposting. Students weigh a group of worms and the added food, recording this information on a data...
Curated OER
Slow Rot or Not?
Fifth graders examine how environmental factors affect decomposition. In this decomposition lesson, 5th graders experiment with the decomposition of grapes in five different environmental settings. They look at images of items that have...
Discovery Education
Perfectly Decomposed!
We all know someone who won't eat the banana with a brown spot, the grape with a dimple, and the apple with a bruise. Scholars use different fruits to explore what happens when fruits really start to decompose. They set up an experiment...
SF Environment
Compost Tag
Composting is a great way to get children involved in recycling. First, they discuss how biodegradable products decompose to make compost. Then, they talk about what can and cannot be composted. They play a game similar to around the...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Winogradsky Columns: Microbial Ecology in the Classroom
Substances that decompose with the help of living organisms do so at different rates. Scholars experiment with Winogradsky columns to determine the rate of decomposition, the oxygen and sulfide content changes, and bacteria levels. The...
Curated OER
Dirty Decomposers
Seventh graders design and conduct experiments to determine what environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They use chunks of carrot for the materials to be decomposed, and their experiments are carried out in plastic...
Curated OER
Environment: Banana-in-a-Jar Experiment
Students conduct experiments using bananas sealed in jars to observe the effects on biodegradable waste in landfills. They cover the lid with a plastic sandwich bag to create an airtight seal. Students observe how the oxygen is used...
Curated OER
Rotten Truth
Students complete activities to study decomposition. In this decomposition lesson, students work in pairs to observe a decay buffet experiment. Students keep compost bag journals. Students define and discuss the process of decomposition.
Curated OER
TE Activity: How Fast Can a Carrot Rot?
Middle schoolers experiment to define which environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They decompose carrots in dirt, weigh the carrots periodically to determine how long it takes. They look at how engineers use this...
Curated OER
Forest Floor Terrarium
Students study the aspects of a forest floor ecosystem, including decomposition, the water cycle, food webs, the needs of living things, and physical vs. chemical change over an extended period. In addition, students conduct observations...
Curated OER
Look At A Landfill
Students explore how landfills function. In this landfill lesson, students explore the use of landfills and the decomposition process by creating a model landfill. Students discuss pros and cons to landfills and how potential problems...
Curated OER
Garbage in the Garden
Students create their own compost. In this soil lesson, students fill a bag with waste and soil, in order to create a mini compost bin. Students observe the baggies over a 6 week period, they record their findings and collect data on...
Curated OER
Case of the Missing Pumpkin
Young scholars explore the process of decomposition in plants. In this plant biology lesson, students use a cleaned out pumpkin and observe how the decomposition process takes place. Young scholars write down adjectives to describe the...
Curated OER
What Is Clay?
This resource could come in handy the next time you feel like teaching about clay. Basic sculpting techniques, vocabulary, and history of clay are outlined in this informative resource. Use prior to teaching an art project involving...
Curated OER
Seed to Soup Organic Garden
Have your young biologists visit decomposition stations as they explore the process of organic material. This activity involves some set-up as kids will be visiting 13 desks to collect colored paper each representing a different element...