Students use the worm castings to plant seeds, hypothesizing which castings will best sustain plant growth and why. Collaborative groups of students may choose to work again with their partner groups at the other school. Students conduct background research on the decomposition process, soil composition, and the life cycle using the resources provided here and directed Internet searches. This research can help students answer any questions that may arise out of the Worm Bin project. It can also enhance the content of the presentations students will develop in their collaborative groups in a later lesson.
Students also give short oral presentations of their findings.
We have drawn on Michigan state science standards projects and the national science standards projects of the the National Research Council and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the development of this unit. We feel that these standards projects provide excellent guidelines for teachers on how to focus science work in their classrooms. The lessons in this unit are designed so that students can work in collaborative groups as well as in a whole-class format, the idea being that each group works at a computer with an Internet connection and integrative software. If the classroom has only one computer with an Internet connection, collaborative groups can still be used. In this case, a block of time can be set aside each day for work on the worm bin project and seed planting lessons in which collaborative groups take turns fulfilling their duties.