Bottle Ecology

Title:Decomposition Column

Author: Carla Cota

Subject: Biology

Grade: 6

Week: Sept. 15-16, 2008

Unit/Lesson Plan #: Lesson on Bottle Ecology

Unit theme:

Creating a Decompostion Column

Textbook references:

Bottle Biology, an idea book for exploring the world through soda bottles and other recyclable materials.

Learning objectives:

Microbial ecology, decompostion, food chains, carbon and nitorgen cylces, recyling, landfills. Scientific process skills, o

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

Choosing ingredients

The time it takes

How wet

Using yoru nose

Recording data

is anything moving

Stage 1:

Discuss the points of recycling, and decompostion

Stay on top of garbage, recycle, reuse, reduce!

Nature recylces all the time, this is essetial to the availability of nutrients for living things. Natures recylcers are tiny bateria, and fungi which break down plant and animal waste making nutrients available for other living things to process. This is know as decompostion

Stage 2:

Decomposition involves a whole community of large and small organisims that serve as food for each other, clean up each others debris and control each others populations and convert materials to forms that others can use.

Stage 3:

Decompostion column is like a miniature compost pile or landfill, or as a leaf litter on a forest floor. We will observe how different subsatnces decompose, explore how moisture, air, temp, and light affect the process

Homework: No homework in this class?

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

__ Group assessment

__ Observation of process/student work

__ Self-assessment by student

__ Teacher generated assignment

__ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

__ Other: ____________________________________