Exponential Trash

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

7

Overview

Waste disposal is a problem for the entire Earth and must be dealt with in a responsible manner to maintain biodiversity in ecosystems. After investigating the amount of waste they produce as an individual, family, class, school, community, and society, students investigate how items decompose in a landfill and develop arguments to support a solution to the problem. Students engage in argument to defend the effectiveness of a design solution on a proposed method of disposing of waste in their school and community. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Science (2015) Grade(s): 7

SC15.7.7

Use empirical evidence from patterns and data to demonstrate how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem (e.g., deforestation, succession, drought, fire, disease, human activities, invasive species) can lead to shifts in populations.

UP:SC15.7.7

Vocabulary

  • Empirical evidence
  • Patterns
  • Data
  • Ecosystem
  • Populations
  • Physical components (e.g., water, air, temperature, sunlight, soil, etc.)
  • Biological components (e.g., plants, animals, etc.)
  • Phenomena (e.g., deforestation, succession, drought, fire, disease, human activities, invasive species, etc.)

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Ecosystems are dynamic in nature and can change over time.
  • Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.
  • Changes in the physical or biological components of an ecosystem (e.g., rainfall, species introduction) can lead to changes in populations of species.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Demonstrate the scientific idea that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem can affect the populations living there.
  • Identify and describe the given evidence needed to demonstrate the scientific idea that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem can affect the populations living there.
  • Evaluate the given evidence, identifying the necessary and sufficient evidence for supporting the scientific idea.
  • Use reasoning to connect the evidence and support an explanation using patterns in the evidence to predict the causal relationship between physical and biological components of an ecosystem and changes in organism populations.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Changes in the amount and availability of given resource may result in changes in the population of an organism.
  • Changes in the amount or availability of a resource may result in changes in the growth of individual organisms.
  • Resource availability drives competition among organisms, both within a population as well as between populations.
  • Resource availability may have an effect on a population's rate of reproduction.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Crosscutting Concepts

Stability and Change
Science (2015) Grade(s): 7

SC15.7.9

Engage in argument to defend the effectiveness of a design solution that maintains biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g., using scientific, economic, and social considerations regarding purifying water, recycling nutrients, preventing soil erosion).

UP:SC15.7.9

Vocabulary

  • Evidence
  • Engineering design process
  • Design solution
  • Biodiversity
  • Ecosystem
  • Ecosystem service
  • Scientific argument
  • Criteria
  • Constraint
  • Economic considerations
  • Social considerations
  • Recycling nutrients
  • Soil Erosion
  • Water Purification

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Evidence about performance of the given design solution. Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in the earth's ecosystems.
  • The completeness of the biodiversity of an ecosystem is often used as a measure of health.
  • Changes in biodiversity can influence humans' resources and ecosystem services.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify and describe a given design solution for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • Identify and describe the additional evidence (in the form of data, information, or other appropriate forms) that is relevant to the problem, design solution, and evaluation of the solution.
  • Collaboratively define and describe criteria and constraints for the evaluation of the design solution.
  • Use scientific evidence to evaluate and critique a design solution.
  • Present oral or written arguments to support or refute the given design solution.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There are processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts

Stability and Change

Primary Learning Objectives

Learning Targets

I can:

1. calculate the approximate amount of garbage produced by the class.

2. describe options for dealing with trash: recycling, reusing, incinerating, use of landfill, and composting.

3. describe how long trash will last in a landfill.

4. identify the basic components of a landfill.

5. identify problems associated with landfills and investigate possible design solutions to these problems (Examples: smell, methane gas, contamination of groundwater, scavenging birds, loss of natural resources, and increased traffic from trash trucks).

6. design and defend a proposed solution for dealing with trash and present the design to the class.

7. use evidence from patterns and data on the human activities of recycling, reusing, incinerating, use of landfill, and composting to demonstrate how changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in populations.

Additional Learning Objective(s)

Engineering and Design: Design a solution for reducing the amount of garbage.

Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect

Procedures/Activities

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.

  1. Discuss the role of the landfill. Diagram of Landfill, Landfill pdf.
  2. Describe how long trash will last in a landfill.
  3. Review vocabulary: organic, renewable resource, non-renewable resource
  4. Describe options exist for dealing with trash: recycling, reusing, incinerating, use of landfill, and composting.
  5. Lead a class discussion on problems associated with landfills and investigate possible design solutions to these problems.  Problems include smell, methane gas, contamination of groundwater, scavenging birds, loss of natural resources, and increased traffic from trash trucks.

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.

 

Total Duration

61 to 90 Minutes

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.

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

Approved Date

2016-08-05
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