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Table of Contents
Introduction
Purpose/Process
Client Goals
Herman the Worm Story
Step by Step Process
Why Red Worms?
Critical Evaluation
Interventions
Outcomes
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
On this page you will discover the process I took to complete a vermiculture bin for the Playhouse classroom. First, I want to define what vermicompost is, vermicompost is the process of farming worms in order to break down organic matter. If you didn’t already know, worms are decomposers and they can help break down organic matter (which is food scraps, leaves, newspaper, etc) and once they’ve broken it down they leave a casting (worm manure). Castings are the end product of the breakdown process. Castings are full of nutrients and can be used as an organic fertilizer for our soil. Throughout this report you will note what kind of worms to use and why, and how to make a small-scale system. There is a section dedicated to the step-by-step process as well as a section that focuses on the brainstorming/discussion phase of the project. This project took a little over a week to come to fruition. Once you have finished reading I hope you are able to confidently create a small-scale worm bin or teach a lesson on the process of worm composting.
"Whoa! Worms eat my garbage!"- 3 year old from the playhouse room
Project Title: From Scraps to Snacks (Our Vermiculture Bin)
Project Scope: By April 18th, 2014 we will have brainstormed and designed our ideal worm bin. By April 26th, 2014 we will have created our worm bin and have added it into our classroom.
Project Outcomes: To develop an understanding of composting and what it does, why it is important, what we can do with finished compost and how they can help. We will learn about worms on a deeper level and discuss their involvement with the composting process. I will develop a small-system that is aesthetically pleasing, and that will easily display what is going on for the children to observe.
Project Design:
I created this project design specifically for this output:
Brainstorm: what, where, why, when
Design: develop prototypes, begin desigining via paper/pen
Implement: choose a prototype, obtain materials, hands on designing
Observe: desired outcome? Any interventions? Have you met client goals?
Evaluate: meet goals (Personal/professional)? What could have I done differently? What went well? Next steps? Skillflex
~ Purpose and Process
The client base for this was the playhouse pre-school room. There are 19 kids total plus 3 teachers, including me. Our vision was to have a small-scale system that could fit in our room so we can observe what’s going on, and have easy access to feed the worms, and turn the compost.
There were a lot of different roles and responsibilities encompassed into this project. I found myself being a leader, a listener, and supporter. I really viewed my students as clients and listened to their needs and ideas for the project. I also found myself micro-managing the implementation part of the process to make sure my clients would get their desired outcome.
I felt very comfortable in the leader/listener roles but a little uneasy when it came to the supporting role when it was hands on support. I think this was because there was a very specific layout to follow for the worm bin and a lot of hands that wanted to help. Other then that, I feel like I supported their visions and ideas and questions.
Team members for this project consisted of my co-teacher, Alicia, she helped by taking pictures and emphasizing specific rules that were delegated to the children during the process of creating our worm bin.
A lot of the process was done in a group setting since we were designing this worm bin for our classroom and the kids wanted to be hands on. We brainstormed together on the design of our compost, how many worms we should use, where we should put it and what kinds of things we should put in and keep out.
Client goals
- Small-scale
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Low odor
- Easily accessible
- Low maintenance
- Worms
- Compost
- Minimal Pests
After a discussion with the clients this was a list that was compiled of what they wanted to unfold from the project. As you can tell they are attainable and realistic goals that shouldn't be too hard to achieve.
Why Red Worms?
Red worms tolerate a wide temperature range
Can process food waste multiple times of their weight!
Can tolerate a wider range of pH level: 4.0-8.0
Love moisture and can tolerate a lot more than other worms
Surface dwellers- they don't just hang out on the bottom and will move around
Note: red worms are not the typical worm you find outside in the soil, you will most likely need to purchase red worms from a local store or online. You can also use nightcrawlers but they aren't as efficient as red worms.
Step by Step Process
Step 1: Read story about "Herman the Worm" to the children to guide understanding of worms eating our garbage and what they are doing that helps the process of decomposing.
Step 2: Obtain a 10-gallon Aquarium from a thrift store or another local ally. An aquarium will be durable to hold compost and it’s easier for the children to see what’s going on inside.
Step 3: Clean the Aquarium of any remaining debris, or chemicals before bringing it into the classroom. Create a lid for the system. *First attempt will be a canvas cover with holes in it. Purchase worms from local bait shop in town. Bring finished system setup into the classroom.
Step 4: Color 6 ziplock bags green, color 6 ziplock bags brown, and then label FS (Food Scraps) on the 4 remaining bags, with a grand total of 16 bags. Hand one to each child.
Step 5: Explain the recipe for compost: air, water, brown/dead (carbon), green/living (nitrogen), and food scraps. Then bring up our addition of worms (decomposers). Talk about examples of what the students can collect in their ziplock bags- if they have a green bag they will be searching for grass cuttings, weeds, other plants, or coffee grounds. If they have brown, they will be searching for dried leaves, newspaper, saw dust and pine needles. If they have a FS bag they will be collecting our food scraps from breakfast and lunch. Allow children to go and fill up their bags.
Step 6: Once all of our ingredients to make compost have been collected have children break items down into smaller pieces and state that it helps items decompose quicker.
Step 7: Have students fill the aquarium layer by layer. Start with an inch or two of soil, another 2 inches of brown/dead matter, a thin layer of green/living matter and some water. Keep repeating these layers until the aquarium is ¾ full. Finish it off with another layer of soil and water the pile until it is moist. Add about 30 worms to the bin and cover.
Step 8: Have students turn the pile once a week with a trowel and continue to add water when necessary. Add in more brown/dead matter as it decomposes. Note to self: if compost has a bad odor, there is excess moisture and you should add wood chips, or newspaper.
Step 9: Place in area out of direct sunlight and at room temperature away from a radiator.
Step 10: Make observations. Ask children what they see going on, and have them draw journal entries.
~ Interventions
I at first wanted to make a small-scale vermiculture bin outside for this project but there were a few things that held me back from doing so: the weather (being a large factor), the materials, and the content. Since I am using a glass aquarium, I worried about the weather wearing down the tank and making it less aesthetically pleasing/harder to look into. Also, worms do not do well adjusting to spiking temperatures and thrive on a consistently warm temperature. As you can see, it all ultimately ties back to the weather, and here in Wisconsin it can be sunny and 60s one day and drop down to 20 degrees the next day. This environment is not suitable for keeping our worm bin outside. We still had snow up until the week of April 14th, which was when I decided that it should for sure be an inside system and we continued brainstorming our ideas.
Looking back on this intervention I am very pleased with my decision to adjust the system to be an indoor one. As of today April 24th, it is raining and 32 degrees and tomorrow it is supposed to be 60 and sunny. This validates my beliefs on the contrast our weather can produce.
Herman the Worm
I created a story that was adapted from the song "hermie the worm". It was an interactive story that I used to introduce the worm project. It is a story about a worm named Herman, who was playing in the garden beds and came across food. His mother had told him to save his appetite for dinner and to not eat when he was playing outside but he didn't listen. He kept coming home bigger and bigger each time until finally he made a worm casting (worm poop) and shrunk back down to his regular size.
Here is a video clip of me telling the story:
This story enabled us to have a very simple lesson on worms. We talked a lot about their adaptations, anatomy, and their needs to survive. Which was a perfect segway into our brainstorming of the worm bin.
Here is some of our brainstorming conversation (Names will not be disclosed for privacy of the children and their families):
Jensen: 'What do you think our worms will need to survive in our classroom?'
Z: "They need water and food like us."
E: "There's some things they can't eat."
A: "Where are they going to live?"
J: "In a home with a mommy and daddy."
C: "The home needs a roof."
N: "It can't be too cold. I don't see worms in snow."
C: "I see them in the rain."
Jensen: 'Do worms live high up in trees?'
P: "No! They live undergound."
M: "Yeah, in the dirt." (agreeing with P)
From this conversation, it made me realize that they essentially knew the basic needs of a worm. Yes, they might not sound like super intelligent statements but when you break them apart to define the real meaning you get:
They need food and water
A consistent temperature
A box with a lid to live in
They need dirt
More than 1 worm needs to be present
There are things we cannot compost
~ Critical Evaluation
Throughout this project, I relied on Internet resources as well as experiential resources. I learned about the importance of worm composting and then was able to reconstruct that information/knowledge into a form that younger children were able to comprehend. I also engaged in creating my own design method for this OP. I originally was going to use a model that was given to us in the orientation cycle modules but I felt like I could only grasp some of those at the simplest form and that I could learn more by creating my own process and following through on it step by step. On the websites I learned certain concepts to touch on when teaching about worms as well as how to adapt from their approaches in a way that would be more tactful than saying (the worm poop/ burped). The clients I had may have been 3/4 years old but saying things like that lowers my capacity of respect from them. Therefore it was great to have the resources to adapt from.
I was able to reflect back on when I was a camp counselor and we sang songs about Herman the worm and that reminded me to look for the lyrics/video so I could adapt a story based of it.
- The Internet served as a great resource for this project as well as just brainstorming with the clients. The actual creation of this worm bin was done solely on the clients’ goals and design ideas.
- I could have modified my communicational skills to reflect the amount of time I wanted dedicated to this project. My co-workers also had other projects they wanted/need to pursue in the same time frame as me. This made a little dent in my time management but in reality it made me do more of the work than the children helping like they had wanted to/ I had expected.
- I invented the BDIOE model and I even created a little picture diagram of the process and it had the written elements of what I asked myself during each phase of the design process. This was a big step for me as I have struggled with understanding how I design and finish projects. This was a really exciting step for me and I think it was written in a way that others could adapt it into their design methods in the future. I also see it as a process I can continuously use and adapt from in my future OPs.
- I used a step-by-step process to depict exactly how the worm bin was created and how I developed the interest of worms and worked my way into the worm composting project.
- I enjoyed creating my design method and being able to look back on it and reflect and the fact that the reflection/evaluation period was already built into the design method. It holds accountability for me to reflect.
~ Outcomes
How does your project affect the world, the field, your community, and the client?
With this project my local pre-school community realized how easy and cheap it was to create this system. They were inspired by what I was doing with the students and how engaged they were in the process and have started to formulate their own ideas on implementing a system in other individual classrooms. I feel like this project is making an impact on my students because they’re learning about composting at such an early age and really gaining an understanding on the process and being conscious of what is happening to all of our food scraps in the classroom that we produce. With this knowledge at such a ripe age I would hope that it would continue on to inspire them to compost at home, or in the future.
What are the primary achievements of the project?
The primary achievements of the project were to have a small-scale worm bin that would fit in the classroom and look aesthetically pleasing as well as be accessible, and easy to observe the process. The project also served as a teachable moment on the importance of compost, and to expand on our student’s interests of worms. With this project we broadened their knowledge on worms.
Describe your contribution to building your peer networks, the knowledge commons and the epistemic community. I reached out to other preschools that are composting and learned about their methods. I talked with friends in the Gaia U community as well as local allies about my ideas where they lent support and suggestions. I also reached out to online gardening forums.
Politcial/Patrix Effects
A major patrix oppression I noticed came down to gender roles. At first, the boys were more into the project because it was “garbage and worms!” and the girls were holding the idea “ew, stinky garbage and slimy worms!” They were definitely not all on the same page. There were a few girls that were interested from the get go and a few boys who were not. With this noted, I had to reach out to each individual to make them feel ethically invested in the project to get them involved. It reminded me a lot of Jon Young’s work of ‘meeting them where they are at’ and I chose to push them little by little and before you knew it they were elbows deep in dirt, food scraps, and slimy worms, and enjoying it!
How may your work alter the political landscape in your home, your community and the wider sociopolitical arena?
It opens the doors to shift my attention when it comes to 'traditional' gender roles. It makes me feel like I need to discourage the belief that only men can do this and only women can do that. I came from a single mother who is capable of doing everything herself. I have definitely gained that attribute of hers but find myself pretending to not be able to open the mason jar so my boyfriend can feel like he has a part and can feel masculine. If I shift my attention towards busting gender roles in my daily home life I will be able to also encourage youth to do the same as well as open the eyes of my community.
Personal and Professional Outcomes
This project made me feel very productive. I felt like each day there was a new step to take and the children were right there encouraging it and impatiently awaiting each new part. With that though I had to be extremely organized and I feel like this project had helped me address my organizational skills in a positive way.
CONCLUSION
This OP has succesfully talked about my experience and the creation, the purpose and process of a worm composting bin. I have designed a system within a weeks time that met my clients goals as well as my own on a personal and professional level. Worm composting has been around for so many years and it is refreshing that there are still new design possibilites out there. As worm composting has been around for some time, throughout my research and designing it became clear that there has not been an aquarium based worm bin in a classroom. This was an exciting finding and I hope it inspires you to create a worm bin that is just as unique. It is my desire to have spoke of this information in a way that you can take it and create your own worm composting system, or develop a worm lesson plan.