VM214
Third Grade Manatee Curriculum—Lesson 11:
Biodegradable or Not?1
Maxine Floyd, Maia McGuire, and Ruth Francis-Floyd2
1. This document is VM214, one of a series of the Veterinary Medicine—Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original
publication date July 2015. Reviewed October 2018. For more lessons in the Third Grade Manatee Curriculum series, go to http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/
topic_series_third_grade_manatee_workbook. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
2. Maxine Floyd, horticulture agent, UF/IFAS Extension Marion County; Maia McGuire, Florida Sea Grant agent, UF/IFAS Extension St. Johns and Flagler
Counties; and Ruth Francis-Floyd, professor and UF/IFAS Extension veterinarian, College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Forest Resources and
Conservation; UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611. Adapted from Science Projects for Sixth Grade: Discovering Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable
Items by Paulo Correa (2009).
The authors would like to thank the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for their financial support of this project.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to
individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national
origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other UF/IFAS Extension publications, contact your county’s UF/IFAS Extension office.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County
Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension.U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M
University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension.
Description
Students will learn what types of items are and are not
biodegradable. This lesson complements Lesson 10 by
demonstrating that some types of trash will biodegrade
quickly and not become a problem in the environment,
while other types of trash stay around for a very long time.
Objectives
By the end of the activity, students will be able to list at least
two types of items that biodegrade and at least two that do
not.
Standards Addressed
Florida—SC.3.N.1.1; SC.3.N.1.6
Vocabulary
biodegradable, physical characteristics, recycling, decay,
bacteria
You Will Need
• Piece of wood (e.g., popsicle stick)
• Slice of apple
• Piece of styrofoam cup
• Small piece of plant or a leaf
• Piece of plastic bag
• Penny
• Piece of napkin
• Optional: Piece of a soda can
• Optional: Biodegradable packing peanuts
• Masking tape
• Markers that will write on masking tape
• Eight 2-liter soda bottles or gallon milk containers cut
down to about 6˝ in height. Cover the cut edge with
masking tape or duct tape so it is not sharp.
• Potting soil (or garden soil, if available)
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber bands
• Copies of “Is it Biodegradable?” worksheet for students
Reviewed: 08/2021
