Assessment focuses: AF2, AF4, AF5
Context
Work on soil, fertility and seedling growth in different conditions led to a discussion about composting and the actions of living things in the soil, then to an idea for an investigation.
Pupils investigated how quickly different materials rotted. They put ordinary wet soil in glass jars (with screw-on lids) and then added lettuce leaves, crisps in a packet, nails and expanded polystyrene before leaving the jars in the school greenhouse for a month. As part of this they discussed the health reasons for not including meat or dairy products.
The jars were left with the lids screwed loosely on, but the lids were screwed and taped down before pupils re-accessed the jars for inspection.
Pupil's work
Pupil Z was able to state that worms and bugs in the soil eat waste materials and break it up. In class she talked about her ideas in terms of ‘worm poo’ and ‘bug poo’ and used language such as biodegradable, decompose and polystyrene.
