Trash orTreasutreThird- tofifth-grade students develop reading and creative-tbinking

skills as theyponder how trash can affect animals and their habitats.

By Donna Kowalczyk

ost children know they should not pol-lute but have never considered why.M created a lesson for third- throughfifth-grade students that makes the con-

nection concrete. In the lesson, students consider thepossible effects a trash item would have on an animaland its habitat, identifying ways in which the piece oftrash could be helpful or harmful to the animal andits habitat and then communicating their ideas abouthow people can clean a polluted environment to makeit safe for animals. Alongthe way, students use readingskills to gather information about the animal and itshabitat, writing skills to record their ideas on paper,and speaking skills to share their ideas about theiranimal and piece of trash with the class. Technologycan also be integrated if the teacher chooses to usewcbsites for the reading portion of the activity.

Getting ReadyPrior to the activity, I collect various household trashitems;: plastic milk containers, paper wrappers fromfood, cellophane, Styrofoam packing material, card-board juice containers, aluminum foil, newspaper,plastic bags, paper towel rolls, empty cardboardboxes, and office paper. Make sure you select itemsthat are clean and safe for students to han -dIe-items free of sharp edges, food crumbs,liquids, or jag.ged metals. Each student will CAUTION

receive one piece of trash along with informationon one animal. I use Wildlife Fact File cards (CSA1996), but you could easily assemble your own factsheets with any animal reference book. These cards

contain detailed information about a specific ani-mal's habitat, breeding, food and hunting, lifestyle,and physical features.

For the reading portion of this activity, I select ma-terials focusing on various animal species describingtheir life cycles, habitats, diet, nutrition, huntingpractices, geographic locations, and any other inter-esting facts about the animal. The online ZoobooksMagazine and The National Wildlife Federation'sKids and Families web pages provide excellent on-line reading information for the activity (see InternetResources). The reading portion of the activity maybe conducted in a computer lab, allowing studentsto select their own websites and gather informationabout their animal independently. Students may alsowork in pairs or small groups to find relevant infor-mation online or from one of the reading sources.

Creative Thinking in ActionI start with a brief introduction about animals, theirhabitats, and the role of pollution in the environment.I ask the students to talk about some of their favor-ite animals. Whales, dolphins, rabbits, deer, foxes,snakes, and fish are among some of the common spe-cies my students love to discuss. We usually spend10 minutes discussingthe similarities and differencesamong the types of species students added to thediscussion. The terms mammal, amphibian, fish, rep-tile, insect, and habitat emerge from the discussion.I emphasize the fact that an animal's habitat is theplace where it lives, breeds, feeds, and hunts. Next,I question the students about pollution. "Pollution is

Trash or Treasure? activity rubric,

Identifies

Important

Information

Identifies Facts

Identifies Details

Summarizes

Information

The student lists all of themain points about theanimal and its habitat usingthe article as a reference.

The student accurately lo-cates and identifies three tofive specific facts about theanimal and its habitat andoffers a thorough expla-nation of the informationcontained in the article.

The student identifies threeto five details about theanimal, its habitat, and thetrash item and does not re-fer to the article to explainwhat was read.

The student uses three tofive sentences to describethe helpful and harmful ef-fects of the trash item andcan clearly communicatehis or her ideas.

The student lists three tofive main points about theanimal and its habitat butuses the article as a refer-ence.

The student accuratelylocates two facts about theanimal and its habitat butoffers a weak explanationof the information con-tained in the article.

The student is able to iden-tify two details about theanimal, its habitat, and thetrash item but needs to re-fer to the article to explainwhat was read.

The student uses one to twosentences to describe thehelpful or harmful effects ofthe trash item but has somedifficulty communicating hisor her ideas.

The student can list or

name two main pointsfrom the article but does

not highlight the important

points.

The student has difficulty

locating facts and explain-ing what was contained in

the article.

The student has difficultyidentifying details about the

animal, its habitat, and the

trash item and has difficulty

explaining what was read.

The student has difficulty

developing sentences todescribe the helpful and

harmful effects of the trashitem and has great difficultycommunicating ideas.

caused by people who throw their garbage and wastein the environment," is a common statement given bythe students. "Let's think about how pollution affectsanimals in their habitats" is my response.

As we discuss what we know about the role of pol-lution in the environment, I explain to my studentsthat they will be reading about a specific animal andinvestigating a piece of trash during the activity. Then Iassign a different animal to each student and distributea trash item to each one. Before distributing the mate-rial, I pose the following questions to guide studentsduring the activity.

"* Where does the animal live?"* What does it eat?"* How does it get its food?"* How would you describe its habitat?

I also ask students to list five interesting facts theylearn about the animal as they are reading. Next, Idistribute one "animal fact card" to each student.Allow about 10 minutes for the students to read thecards and list the information.

Next, I ask them to list three to four propertiesof the trash item on a piece of paper and encouragethem to apply the information they read regardingthe animal and its habitat. For example, I tell thestudents that some properties of an empty plasticsoda bottle are soft, plastic, round, and narrow togive them an idea of how they can describe their owntrash items. I then encourage them to imagine thatthe animal they read about encountered that pieceof trash in their environment. I ask them to considertwo questions as they handle the trash and imaginethis scenario:

34 Science and Children

I Finure 1. 1

* How would this piece of trash be harmful toyour animal?

* How would this piece of trash be helpful toyour animal?

Following this part of the activity, I invite each stu-dent to share their animal, piece of trash, and ideasabout the helpful and harmful nature of the trashwith the class. Many students generate very creativeand humorous ideas and uses for the trash and listappropriate adjectives to describe each trash itemand animal. Some examples of student responses aregiven below:

* Nathan read about the raccoon and received a pieceof aluminum foil as his piece of trash. Shiny, soft,j7exiblc, and thin were properties Nathan listed de-scribing the aluminum foil. He thought that the foilwould "hurt the raccoon's stomach" if it was eaten.Nathan concluded that since raccoons wash theirfood before they eat, they could use the foil to "wraptheir food to keep bugs out of it if they didn't wantto cat it right away." Students often share unlikelyuses for the trash items. Encouraging them to try tothink like they believe their animal would think as itencounters the trash is one way I respond to thoseunusual ideas. I also urge them to imagine what lifewould be like for the animal living in the habitatdescribed in the fact card. These sugges-tions sometimes help students to thinkof more realistic and believableuses for the trash items.

r* Renee read about the com-

mion mole and imaginedthit a plastic antacid

bottle would act as a goodplace to hide food from SCj'KSother animals. She also LIINfelt that any medicine left v

inside the bottle when Keywords: Solutions to pollution

found by the mole could problems"at www.scilinks.org

be toxic if ingested by Enter code: SC040701

the mole. "I think a largemole might get its head stuck inside the bottle if'it tried to crawl or sniff inside," she added. Reneedescribed the bottle as hard, plastic, and small.Neal shared his ideas about the gray fox and anempty cardboard box. Flexible, sturdy, and brownwere the adjectives Neal used to describe the box.He said the cardboard box could be used as insula-tion for the fox's den during cold winter months andfor trapping small animals for food. He also statedthat the box could be harmful to newborn cubs thatare born blind and helpless if they became trappedinside the box and would be easy prey for predatorswhen the adult foxes are away from the den.

"* Christina read about the angelfish and its lifestyleas a reef-dwelling fish. After examining a brightlycolored cereal box, she concluded that since the an-gelfish has colorful markings, it could use the cerealbox as camouflage to hide from other reef-dwellingpredators. One negative aspect she discovered wasthe idea that if the angelfish became trapped insidethe box it would become easy prey for its predators.She described the cereal box as bright, colorful, andempty and was surprised to realize that she usedsome of the same words to describe the angelfish.

"* Joey read about the pilot whale. He had no prob-lems generating ideas about the metal soda canand was eager to share his ideas with the class.The bendable, shiny, and sharp soda can couldget caught in the pilot whale's teeth and preventit from grabbing its prey as it hunts in the NorthAtlantic waters. He thought the can could helpthe pilot whale to locate its prey if the can wasfloating in the water and the whale's echolocationbounced off the can indicating the presence of alarge school of fish.

I am always impressed with the students' cre-ative, logical, and reflective thinking abilities as theycomplete the activity. Not only do they exhibit anunderstanding of the effects of pollution on animalsand their habitats, they also gain additional knowl-edge about the specific animal species, its habitat,and special features. The concepts of camouflage,echolocation, prey, and predators were additionalconcepts typically encountered during the readingsegment of the activity and are eagerly shared by thestudents during the closing discussion.

Extending the ActivityAfter students share their ideas, I present someadditional questions to extend their thinking andspark more interest in reading about animals andtheir habitats:

"* What kinds of litter or trash items have you seen inthe environment around your home or school?

"* What role do people play in transporting trash intothe environment?

"* How can people work to clean up the environmentfor the health and benefit of animals?

"* What happens to trash and litter that remains in anenvironment for a long period of time?

"* How does trash and litter affect people?

Another way to extend the learning experience isto take the students on a short field trip around

Connecting to the StandardsThis article relates to the following National ScienceEducation Standards (NRC 1996):

Content StandardsGrades K-4Standard C: Physical Science-The characteristics of organisms- Organisms and environments

the school building. During the field trip, tell thestudents to explore the area, looking for animals,insects, living things, and litter that may be in theimmediate environment. Encourage them to thinkabout the negative and positive effects of the trashitems on the living things they encounter in theoutdoor school environment. The field trip helpsthe students to connect the classroom activity to thephysical environment surrounding the school.

Final ThoughtsDuring the activity, the students write their ideason paper and share them with the class. Figure 1,page 34, is a rubric to assess the students' writing,speaking abilities, and formation of ideas regardingthe positive and negative uses of the trash. Studentsmay also record their ideas in their science journals,which may be assessed informally or with the useof a rubric.

Following the activity, I ask my students whatthey learned from the experience. Students invari-ably say they learned many interesting facts abouttheir animals and that they enjoyed discussing thelogical and sometimes silly uses the animals had forthe trash items. In my book, that makes this trash-inspired activity a real treasure! N

Donna Kowalczyk (donnak@pitt.edu) is an assistantprofessor at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstownin Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

ResourcesConservation Society of America (CSA). 1996. Wildlife Fact

File. New York: International Masters Publishers.National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science

education standards. Washington, DC: National AcademyPress.

InternetNational Wildlife Federation Kids and Families

www. nwf. org/kidsZoobooks Magazine

www.zoobooks.com

36 Science and Children

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Trash or Treasure?SOURCE: Science and Children 44 no8 Ap/My 2007PAGE(S): 32-6

The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and itis reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article inviolation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher:http://www.nsta.org/elementaryschool