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LSF's Building a Vermicomposter Action Toolkit for Secondary Students

Secondary

Description

This ESD resource focuses on a sustainable approach to managing organic waste. Students explore the environmental, social and economic aspects of waste disposal and apply what they have learned by building and operating a vermicomposter. This action toolkit engages teachers and students in community and school-based environmental action projects. This comprehensive resource provides teachers with a variety of hands-on learning activities, which include building a vermicomposter that uses red wiggler worms to transform organic waste that would normally be sent to the dump, into a natural fertilizer.

Students will:

  • will draw a map to examine where their waste goes when it leaves their home and the economic, social, and environmental consequences of their waste along the way
  • design their own controlled experiment to understand and study what factors affect decomposition
  • build a vermicomposter and learn to care for the worms
  • play a trivia game to discover how much they know or need to learn about vermicomposting.
  • conduct a waste audit to learn more about the waste they create
  • create an informational brochure about composting using the knowledge they have learned during the activities

The resource also provides an activity allowing students to connect their learning to the SDGs and apply the knowledge they gained throughout this action toolkit to think critically about them. Through interactive activities and hands-on projects, teachers can help students understand the importance of the SDGs and how they can make a difference. By introducing students to the SDGs, they can better understand how their actions can help create a more sustainable world.

To access more LSF Action Projects click here

General Assessment

What skills does this resource explicitly teach?

The resource explicitely teaches:

  • Experiment design skills 
  • Designing a brochure 
  • Care for worms 

Strengths

  • The resource allows teacher to meet curriculum expectations through highly engaging and environmentally-focused learning activities.  
  • The resource contains detailed background information for the teacher and students.
  • The resource provides authentic action experiences, large and small.
  • Each lesson in the resource clearly states its learning outcomes, description of the activity, materials needed, preparation and assessment options.
  • Wide range of learning styles incorporated into the lessons.
  • The resource is well organized and easy to use.
  • A variety of assessment suggestions are provided

Weaknesses

  • No modification for diverse learners
  • Limited outdoor activities

Relevant Curriculum Units

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Themes Addressed

Waste Management (3)

  • Composting
  • Solid Waste Disposal
  • Source Reduction

Sustainability Education Principles

Principle Rating Explanation
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives Very Good

The resource objectively presents the environmental, social and economical impacts of vermicomposters. The resource provides a positive bias with well researched background information from many sources to support the importance vermicomposting.

Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
  • Satisfactory: absence of bias towards any one point of view
  • Good: students consider different points of view regarding issues, problems discussed
  • Very good: based on the consideration of different views, students form opinions and  take an informed position
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions Very Good

Students are explicitly directed to examine the ecological, social and economic implications of waste.

Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions:

Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.

  • Satisfactory: resource supports the examination of  these dimensions
  • Good:  resource explicitly examines the interplay of these dimensions
  • Very Good:  a systems-thinking approach is encouraged to examine these three dimensions
Respects Complexity Very Good

The resource promotes dialogue and exploration of waste issues through a problem-solving approach. The resource informs students about the environmental and social advantages associated with reducing organic waste by vermicomposting.

Respects Complexity:

The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected.

Acting on Learning Very Good

Students are definitely active participants in their learning. Their efforts will have a positive impact on their school and their community

Acting on Learning:

Learning moves from understanding  issues  to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community,  or for the planet

  • Satisfactory: action opportunities are included as extensions 
  • Good: action opportunities are core components of the resource
  • Very Good: action opportunities for students are well supported and intended to result in observable, positive change
Values Education Very Good

Throughout every phase of the project, students must answer reflection questions, orally or in writing to clarify what they are doing and why. Through the creation of a mindmap students explore the diverse reasons to care about worms and share their beliefs about organic waste going to the landfill.

Values Education:

Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.

Empathy & Respect for Humans Poor/Not considered
Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.).
Personal Affinity with Earth Good

Students are taught the value of the worms and how to care for them in a safe and humane manner.

Personal Affinity with Earth:

Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.  

  • Satisfactory: connection is made to the natural world
  • Good: fosters appreciation/concern for the natural world
  • Very Good: fosters stewardship though practical and respectful experiences out-of-doors 
Locally-Focused Learning Very Good

The learning is directed at the school and in the community. The resource encourages students to make a personal commitment to reducing the amount of waste that they send to the landfill. Students brainstorm personal commitment options. Find a suitable location for their compost, i.e. donate their compost to a community garden or start your own garden with the class

Locally-Focused Learning:

Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community. 

  • Satisfactory: learning is made relevant to the lives of the learners
  • Good: learning is made relevant and has a local focus
  • Very Good: learning is made relevant, local and takes place ‘outside’ , in the community 
Past, Present & Future Good

Students are asked to consider the impacts of waste now and in the future. The resource takes a look at our present landfill sites and how vermicomposting is one of many options towards reducing waste in the future.

Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.

Pedagogical Approaches

Principle Rating Explanation
Open-Ended Instruction Good

The resource includes a variety of different hands-on activities, which encourages students to find as many answers or solutions as possible. Brainstorming, questioning, discussion, designing, and reflection opportunities are included throughout the resource.

Open-Ended Instruction :

Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer.

Integrated Learning Good

This project includes elements of various subjects:

  • designing a brochure (media class & writing)
  • collecting and graphing data (math)
  • learning about the worms and their roles in nature (biology)
  • teaching others how to use a vermicomposter (presentation skills)
Integrated Learning:

Learning brings together content and skills  from more than one  subject area

  • Satisfactory: content from a number of different  subject areas is readily identifiable
  • Good:  resource is appropriate for use in more than one subject area
  • Very Good:  the lines between subjects are blurred 
Inquiry Learning Good

The activities are structured to allow students to discover and build knowledge for themselves.

Inquiry Learning:

Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.   

  • Satisfactory: Students are provided with questions/problems to solve and some direction on how to arrive at solutions.
  • Good: students, assisted by the teacher clarify the question(s) to ask and the process to follow to arrive at solutions.  Sometimes referred to as Guided Inquiry
  • Very Good:  students generate the questions and assume much of the responsibility for how to solve them.  . Sometimes referred to as self-directed learning.

 

Differentiated Instruction Very Good

This project includes a very good variety of activities that meet the needs of all types of learners.

Differentiated Instruction:

Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.

  • Satisfactory:  includes a variety of instructional approaches
  • Good: addresses  the needs of visual, auditory &  kinesthetic learners
  • Very Good: also includes strategies for learners with difficulties
Experiential Learning Very Good

Students will indeed reduce waste by creating real compost. Students transform classroom learning into community action by building their own vermicomposter.

Experiential Learning:

Authentic learning experiences are provided

  • Satisfactory: learning takes place through ‘hands-on’ experience or simulation
  • Good: learning involves direct experience in a ‘real world context’
  • Very good: learning involves ‘real world experiences’ taking place’ beyond the school walls.
Cooperative Learning Good

Students will be working in groups, they participate in a cooperative trivia game and work in groups to build a vermicomposter

Cooperative Learning:

Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.

  • Satisfactory:  students work in groups
  • Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught and practiced
  • Very Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught, practiced and assessed
Assessment & Evaluation Good

Assessment strategies, journal responses and reflection activities and other strategies are suggested.

Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc.
Peer Teaching Very Good

Students will teach other classes how to use a vermicomposter. They will also teach waste-reducing strategies to the school and the community.

Peer Teaching:

Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.

  • Satisfactory: incidental teaching that arises from cooperative learning, presentations, etc.
  • Good or Very Good: an opportunity is intentionally created to empower students to teach other students/community members. The audience is somehow reliant on the students' teaching (students are not simply ‘presenting')
Case Studies Good

Through a waste audit students take a look at the waste their class creates.

Case Studies:

Relevant case studies are included.  Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore  concepts in an authentic context.

Locus of Control Good

Extending the learning activities are suggested

Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue.