Lesson 48 of 84 ยท Spacetime
Lessonโญ 30 XP๐ StarbaseDecomposers: Nature's Recyclers (Part 2)
Spacetime.
๐ฏ Your mission
Master the concept. Use it tomorrow.
โก The twist
The light you see now started its trip a long time ago.
Mind = Blown
๐ If you could drive a car straight up at highway speed, you'd reach space in under an hour.
Make a hypothesis first
Guess: how big does that look from here vs. from there?
What You'll Learn
Decomposers like fungi and bacteria break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the soil. Without decomposers, dead material would pile up and nutrients would be locked away.
Key Words
- consumer
- decomposer
Steps
Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.
Collect and classify 10 organisms from your yard into kingdoms, phyla, or groups. Use a dichotomous key if available.
Note any unexpected results and think about why they happened.
Share your findings with the class or a partner and discuss what you learned.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3Which stage comes after a caterpillar in metamorphosis?
Where you see this in real life
GPS, weather forecasts, and the seasons all rely on this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Find a constellation in the sky. Look it up. Tell someone its story.
For the dinner table
โIf you could visit any planet, which would you pick and why?โ
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
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