This article explores what composting is, how to compost at home, rules and regulations for composting in WI, reducing food waste, and what materials should or shouldn't be composted.
Students will learn that compost contains carbon from broken down organic materials, proper home compost should not be excessively smelly or pest-attracting, and some animal manure is not useful for composting.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article includes a great poster of what can and can't be composted and a printable PDF instruction booklet on how to start composting at home.
It includes an interactive map of excess food, composting services, and information about composting indoors.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should understand how landfills and food waste contribute to climate change.
Student should know the difference between organic and inorganic materials.
Differentiation
This article could enhance a lesson on the carbon cycle, carbon sinks, and how both relate to climate change.
After reading the article, the teacher could lead a classroom discussion on the Wisconsin government's effectiveness at expanding composting within the state.
This article could supplement a classroom discussion on the various ways students can fight against climate change.
This article could augment a classroom discussion on how governments could incentivize businesses and citizens to become more eco-friendly.
Scientist Notes
This article covers the basics of composting, why it’s important, and how to do it. This is a good article to introduce composting and to learn about services in Wisconsin. The information presented is accurate and this is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.5.9-12 Evaluate citizens' and institutions' effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
