Lesson 7: Nature's Waste Matter

Whole-Class Discussion:

Group students with sticks (3-4 students per group). Answer these questions together and be ready to share your answers with others:

1. What is waste?
2. What are some other words that have the same meaning as waste?
3. Give some examples of waste.
4. Is waste matter?

BIG IDEA 7:
The matter in nature's waste is broken down by various scavengers and decomposers.

Vocabulary:

• Waste
  

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Investigation:

Each group needs one "Mystery Bag" and a piece of newspaper. Spread the newspaper out on one desk, open the bag, and dump its contents onto the newspaper. Examine the materials from the bag. What questions do you have about the items?

Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

1. Where do you think the items came from originally?
2. Do you think the items look the same today as they did a month ago?
3. What happened to the matter in each item over the past month?
4. Do you think the items will be the same forever? Why or why not?
5. What do all of the items in the bag have in common?
6. Do you notice any relationships between the items in the bags? They all...
7. What evidence do you have that the items were all once part of a living thing?
8. Another name for "nature's waste" is "organic remains." These are all organisms that are no longer living, or parts of organisms that are discarded, excreted, or no longer needed.  What other examples of organic remains can you think of?
9. What would happen to each item from your bag if it were left outside? What might it look like in 6 months? What would cause it to change?
   
10. What would eventually happen to the waste MATTER in each type of organic remain?
    
11. Why isn't the earth just piled up with all the matter from nature's waste?
    
12. Why could all of the items in the mystery bags be classified as nature's waste?
    
13. Do you think that all living things generate waste? What makes you think that?
    

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Next, do this activity.

1. Your teacher will assign you ONE of the items in the bag. 
2. In the organizer, use words similar to the ones in the images below.
3. Insert an image of your waste product from Google Images next to the top oval.
4. Create a Google Draw image for the middle oval.
5. Insert a Google Image of soil for the last image.
6. See my example below...

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Investigation:

1. Today, we will be starting an investigation that we will observe over the next couple weeks.
2. Think about the particular organic item that you are planning to use for this investigation.
3. Think about what might happen to it if it were to be left in nature for a couple weeks.
4. Think about where you might choose to place your organic item to see what happens to it.

Here are some suggested places to put your organic item:

• Place it on top of soil
  
• Put it inside of a plastic bag
  
• Place it in water
  
• Leave it near the trunk of a tree
  
• Put it inside one of our file cabinet drawers
  
• Bury it in the soil
  
• Leave it inside a paper bag
  
• Bury it in sand or another inorganic material
  
• Place it under a rock or several rocks
  

Begin your experiment NOW! Take a picture of your item today. If your item will remain visible, take pictures of it throughout the next couple weeks. When the investigation is over, take one final picture and place them all on this blog post.

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Reflection/Synthesis:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

1. What are you trying to explain in your investigation?
2. What is your investigative question?

Answer the following questions at the end of the investigation:

1. Was the matter in the waste stable, or did it change over time?
2. Specifically, how did the matter change during the investigation?
3. What is your evidence of each of those changes?
4. Specifically, what made your organic item change?
5. So, does matter from living things stay exactly the same over time?
6. What evidence do you have from your investigation to support your answer?
7. What would you change in this investigation if you were to do it again?

Answers:

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