Do you know where your garbage goes? Do you know how much garbage the average person generates every day? Most people
don't give these questions a single thought, but it is an important question if there is a concern about global
warming and climate change. This unit focuses on the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. It looks at how this
ideology can make a difference in what is happening on the planet. Students generally don't know or realize how the
things that they throw away have an impact on the world they live in. Landfills are filling up and they create toxins
called leachate that can potentially contaminate the soil and groundwater around them. Trash that is incinerated
creates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. This unit will focus on having students
reduce the amount of trash they generate by learning about where the trash goes and how it is dealt with. Students
will also do experiments to simulate what happens in a landfill. This unit will work to educate students so that they
change their habits of waste disposal so that they can in turn institute those changes at home.
(Developed for Science, grade 3)
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