Living Environment
By Stephen Chin‑Bow
Principal: Gregory
M Hodge, PhD
Problem:
The
way NYC gets rid of garbage is both expensive and not friendly to the
environment.
Introduction:
Garbage
collected by the New York City Department of Sanitation is
shipped to expensive out‑of‑state
landfills. Mayor Bloomberg wants to save
money by opening a garbage dump in one of the five boroughs of
The
2007 New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) budget is 1.25 billion
dollars. Each man, woman, and child who
lives in
Why
does it cost so much to get rid of garbage and what can be done to reduce the
amount of garbage sent to the land-fills?
Are any of the alternatives for waste disposal better for the
environment?
Task:
You
have been invited by Mayor Bloomberg to be on a committee of expert
scientists. Your task is to evaluate and
recommend methods for reducing the amount of plant waste which will be sent to
the future garbage dump being built in
Process:
I.
Students will work in groups of five students.
For this WebQuest project the students will be
assigned to specific groups. Each
student in the group will be assigned a specific 
role.
You
will have ??? periods of
class time to complete this project.
1)
Each group will present a ten minute computerized slide show which explains how
plants decompose and how compost piles are used by farmers to fertilize their
crops.
2)
Each group will build a soda bottle compost bin by following directions found on an internet web
site. In five or ten minutes the group
will describe in detail what they did in each step and what problems they had
following the published directions. The
group will also submit a revised set of instructions which incorporates ways
the published instructions can be improved.
3)
Each group will create detailed directions for building a “new and improved”
soda bottle compost bin. In five or ten
minutes the group will describe what they did, focusing on the changes they made. Remember, simplicity is often better.
4)
Each group presentation will be followed by five minutes of questions from the
other students in the class. Any student
in the group can answer the questions.
II. Within your groups each student will be assigned one of the
following roles:
1) The
coordinator makes sure each student in the group is completing the
assigned tasks. This student also
reviews the work done by the other students and provides constructive feedback.
2) The
student doing background research will locate references and information
(internet, books, newspapers, etc) which is not in the required reading
list. This student will coordinate
efforts with the next student.
3) One
student who creates of the “PowerPoint” presentation. The presentation will be between ten and
fifteen slides. A bibliography at the
end of the presentation will follow the MLA format or the formats suggested at
the beginning of the year.
4) One
student will build a compost bin using published instructions and describe to
the class the procedure.
5) One
student will create directions for building an improved soda bottle compost bin
and describe to the class the process.
III. As part of your research you will use the Public Policy
Analyst as described below:
“Standard” (text) version of the PPA (overview):
1)
What
is the problem?
2)
Where
is the evidence?
3)
What
are the causes?
4)
What
is the existing
policy?
5)
What
different policies
can you create to correct the problem?
6)
What
is the best
policy to correct the problem?
Need
help filling the PPA (“Public Policy Analyst”) worksheets? You might consider
looking at the graphic version of the PPA (click here for an overview)
Resources:
Computer
Programs:
1) If you do not have PowerPoint (a program which is part of the
MS Office suite) installed on your home computer you might want to install
the free program called OpenOffice (openoffice.org).
2) MLA bibliography format: University of Wisconsin
(other resources)
3) Do you need a computer program for reading
PDFs: Adobe Acrobat
Internet
Search Engines and Portals:
1) The search engine which most biologists
use is Google (google.com)
2) The official New
York City web site portal (nyc.gov)
3) The NYC
Department of Parks & Recreation (nycgovparks.org)
Suggested
Internet Searches:
1) Google: "new
york city” garbage budget
2) Google: “new
york city” sanitation department budget
3) Google: composting
4) Google: vermiposting (use of worms to accelerate decomposition)
5) Google: “soda
bottle” compost* (quotation marks and the asterisk)
6) Google: bottle
composting
Required
1) A proposed
solution (Earth Institute at
2) NYC census information
3) NYC Department of
Sanitation budget; PDF
4) NYC recycling goals
(NYC Independent Budget Office); PDF
5) East
Harlem Community Forestry Management Plan; large PDF
Composting:
Background Information
1) Composting
for Kids (
2) the Compost Bin (a great general resource)
Links
to Soda Bottle Composting:
1) from Arizona
State University; PDF
2) from the Los
Angeles County of Education
3) from the Cornell University
Evaluation:
Rubric
|
CATEGORY
|
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Graphics Sources |
Graphics are hand-drawn. The illustrator(s) are given credit
somewhere in the presentation. |
A combination of hand-drawn and HyperStudio
graphics are used. Sources are documented in the presentation for all images.
|
Some graphics are from sources that clearly state that
non-commercial use is allowed without written permission. Sources are
documented in the presentation for all "borrowed" images. |
Some graphics are borrowed from sites that do not have copyright
statements or do not state that non-commercial use is
allowed, OR sources are not documented for all images. |
|
Originality |
Presentation shows considerable originality and inventiveness.
The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way. |
Presentation shows some originality and inventiveness. The
content and ideas are presented in an interesting way. |
Presentation shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness
on 1-2 cards. |
Presentation is a rehash of other people's ideas and/or graphics
and shows very little attempt at original thought. |
|
Cooperation |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all
of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most
of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some
of the time. |
Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing responsibility.
|
|
Content - Accuracy |
All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are
no factual errors. |
Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of
information that might be inaccurate. |
The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information
is clearly flawed or inaccurate. |
Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual
error. |
|
Designing a compost bottle |
Design shows accuracy, originality, and completely follows the
published protocol |
Design shows accuracy, originality, but doesn't completely
follows the published protocol |
Design shows accuracy, originality, but doesn't follow the
published protocol |
Design shows limited accuracy or originality, and fails to
follow the published protocol |
|
Building the compost bottle |
Design shows accuracy, originality, and completely follows the
published protocol |
Design shows accuracy, originality, but doesn't completely
follows the published protocol |
Design shows accuracy, originality, but doesn't follow the published
protocol |
Design shows limited accuracy or originality, and fails to
follow the published protocol |
A=24-22 B=21-19
C=18-16 D= 15-13 F= 12 or lower
Conclusion:
What
the students should have learned.
Creative.
Different
solutions to the same problem.
Recycling
Living Environment
(PDF):
Performance
Indicator 1.1a: Populations can be categorized by the
function they serve. Food webs identify the relationships among producers,
consumers, and decomposers carrying out either autotropic
or heterotropic nutrition
Performance
Indicator 6.1a: Energy flows through ecosystems in
one direction, typically from the Sun, through photosynthetic organisms
including green plants and algae, to herbivores to carnivores and decomposers.
English
Language Arts-ELA (PDF):
Standard 2: Students will read and listen to oral, written and electronically produced
texts and performances, relate texts and performances to their own lives, and
develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural
dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students
will use oral and written language for self-expression and artistic creation.
Standard 4: Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication
with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the
social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and
their views.
Bibliography:
If you click on the images you will be transferred to the
web site where the images were found.