When the day of Biosite arrived I was a bit nervous. I was worried we hadn't planned our lesson well enough or that we wouldn't have time to finish. Luckily, everything turned out great and went better than I expected. Before the the fourth graders arrived we had to do some short prep by presetting our trays of compost with fresh compost and tools. Once the students were here, they divided into groups of about seven and found their team. We started off with our ice breaking activity, a quiet version of screaming toes. The kids really liked this and it gave them an opportunity to feel a little more comfortable with us. We then moved on to our first lesson-related event. The children were given a good amount of time to investigate and play with their trays of compost and were encouraged to write down or draw anything interesting they saw. While they did this we assessed what they already knew about compost (which was a lot more than we expected), and educated them on the basics of compost. This included what compost is made of, how the materials transition from waste to soil, and what critters help out with this process. After this, we went on with the Compost or Not activity. The kids were very engaged and would say "yes," realize they were wrong and shout "wait, no!" Then it was time for Trash Timeline. I think this was the most exciting activity for the students and definitely the most complicated. They would sort the cards into the order they thought they would decompose and when they were done, we'd correct them! We asked what they thought came next and then say "well, actually..." and explain why decomposition happened at that speed on certain substances. The children would then guess how long that item takes to decompose and once again we'd share the correct answer. At the end of each lesson, we'd ask the group what they learned, and what their favorite or most exciting discovery was. When that time slot was over, it was time to move on to the next group!
Along the way, we came across a few bumps and bruises. We realized that it was important to replace the compost before anyone dissected it, otherwise it would be boring and all bugs would have escaped. The Trash Timeline seemed to have the most problems. A major one was that whenever the students became close to finishing their timeline, the wind would blow all of the cards away. By now we'd have run out of time to start over and would have to move on, which was quite a bummer. At first for this activity, the kids weren't sure what they were supposed to do. Once we perfected our introductory technique though, it was a piece of cake.
Something interesting I noticed about the kids was the difference between classes. In the first week, they spoke mostly of what we were learning, compost. The second week's group however, seemed to know more about compost and kept asking me personal questions about what high school was like, and middle school, and how old I was. They also insisted that all the soil they found in their compost was full of scat. Both groups were very excited when they found bugs and a tad disappointed when they did not. One kid got a little to excited about having found a pill bug, which they (and me) knew as rolly pollies, and accidentally killed it by ripping it's head off when he tried to pick it up with tweezers. One group from each week found grubs, which was exciting because they were quite large. Millipedes were also found and were personally my favorite. These were interesting because, when you held them up to the sun, you could see the wave-like movement of their many legs.
Overall, I really liked being a part of Biosite. I learned a lot. I helped others learn a lot. I got to spend time with my favorite age group, elementary schoolers! It was a very worthwhile experience for me and I look forward to being a part of this wonderful group next semester.
Along the way, we came across a few bumps and bruises. We realized that it was important to replace the compost before anyone dissected it, otherwise it would be boring and all bugs would have escaped. The Trash Timeline seemed to have the most problems. A major one was that whenever the students became close to finishing their timeline, the wind would blow all of the cards away. By now we'd have run out of time to start over and would have to move on, which was quite a bummer. At first for this activity, the kids weren't sure what they were supposed to do. Once we perfected our introductory technique though, it was a piece of cake.
Something interesting I noticed about the kids was the difference between classes. In the first week, they spoke mostly of what we were learning, compost. The second week's group however, seemed to know more about compost and kept asking me personal questions about what high school was like, and middle school, and how old I was. They also insisted that all the soil they found in their compost was full of scat. Both groups were very excited when they found bugs and a tad disappointed when they did not. One kid got a little to excited about having found a pill bug, which they (and me) knew as rolly pollies, and accidentally killed it by ripping it's head off when he tried to pick it up with tweezers. One group from each week found grubs, which was exciting because they were quite large. Millipedes were also found and were personally my favorite. These were interesting because, when you held them up to the sun, you could see the wave-like movement of their many legs.
Overall, I really liked being a part of Biosite. I learned a lot. I helped others learn a lot. I got to spend time with my favorite age group, elementary schoolers! It was a very worthwhile experience for me and I look forward to being a part of this wonderful group next semester.
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