3rd Grade Discovery Lab
Pollution
Welcome – Welcome the students and have them put on lab coats. Instruct students to take a seat at one
of the stations.
Today you are going to discuss pollution and the effects on the environment here on Earth and our
atmosphere. Start by going over the Wall Words and having a discussion of the different types of
pollution.
Wall Words (Paraphrase the definitions into “3rd grade speak”):
Pollution - the introduction of harmful substances or products into the environment
“The bad stuff we put into our Earth and Sky”
Contamination - the process or act of making impure or unsuitable by contact or mixture with something
unclean, bad, etc.
“Making clean stuff dirty”
Global Warming - an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding
changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect (We will discuss The Greenhouse
Effect in Station 3).
“Our Earth is getting warmer because chemical contaminates are getting trapped in the Earth’s
atmosphere”
Introduce topic: Pollution is the release of environmental contaminants.
Ask the students to list the types of pollution and list them on the board. You can be as specific as you
think the students can understand. They will not be required to remember the specific compounds that are
discussed but you can give examples of type of pollutant.
1. Air pollution, the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common examples
include chemical s (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and nitrogen
oxides) produced by industry and motor vehicles. Ozone and smog are created as these chemicals
react to sunlight.
2. Water pollution via surface runoff and leaching to groundwater.
3. Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground storage tank leakage
or use of pesticides. (Among the most significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals,
MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.)
4. Radioactive contamination is typically the result of a spill or accidnt. Contamination may occur
from radioactive gases, liquids or particles. We can classify major sources that lead to radioactive
pollution to the following categories: nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons, transportation, disposal
of nuclear waste, and uranium mining.
5. Noise pollution encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as high-intensity
sonar.
6. Light pollution, includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference. Light
pollution refers to light that lights up the night time sky. It comes from light fixtures that are aimed in
the wrong direction, too bright or "leak" light into the sky. When that happens, it's much harder to see
the stars. Examples: (1) Norbert Vance is the director of the Sherzer Observatory in Michigan. He
says many birds can no longer see the stars that guide their journey when they migrate. Other birds
become confused by the lights and fly into buildings. (2) Sea turtles are also affected. Female sea
turtles crawl up onto the beach and lay their eggs in the sand. They use light to help them find their
way back to the water. Many times, both the adult sea turtles and the babies that hatch from the eggs
become confused and turn toward the road instead of the ocean. Sea turtles are an endangered species,
which means there are not very many of them.
7. Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards,
scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash or municipal solid waste.
Introduce what they’ll do at each station
Station 1: Oil Spills and Water Pollution – Students will simulate an oil spill and attempt to clean it up.
Station 2: Storm Drains and Water Pollution – Students will simulate rainwater run-off in storm drains
adding an assortment of pollutants.
Station 3: Global Warming - Students will learn the effects of global warming on air temperature by
doing “Global Warming in a Jar” to show how greenhouse gases trap warm air over the Earth.
Station 4: Air Pollution - Students will collect air pollution in the room and make collectors to use at
home.
Use timer to time each rotation for 12 minutes or when all groups have finished. When timer beeps have
them all move clockwise.
Walk around and make sure each station is running smoothly. You will need to fill in at a station if short
volunteers.
Closure –
Ask students to help thank volunteers.
Ask students if they had fun. Remind them to share experience with parents!
Students can take off the lab coats and put them on the back of their chairs.
Students line up, get hand sanitizer (1 squirt) on way out.
Please make sure all the containers from stations 1 and 2 are cleaned up for the next class. You can use
buckets to dump the contaminated water. If the buckets start to fill up, please dump them into the drain
near the recycling dumpster (along the bus lane). This drain gets cleaned out by the county periodically.
Ask parents to help set up for the next class. If you are the last class of the day turn off one set of lights
and lock up. Return key to PTA copy room corkboard.
Any questions? Call the lab chair - phone numbers should be listed on white board in lab.
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Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #1: Oil Spills and Water Pollution
Oil spills are a source of water pollution affecting our oceans. This experiment shows the affects on the
water and the animal life that lives on and near our oceans. Do you want to try cleaning up an oil spill for
yourself? This experiment will help you understand why it is such a difficult task.
You need:
 4 clear glass or plastic bowls
 plastic spoons
 drinking straws
 Water
 vegetable oil
 cinnamon
 small marshmallows
 Pipe cleaners
Procedure:
1. Pour water into a bowl and add vegetable oil. Observe that the oil and water don’t mix.
2. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the oil. Point out that the mixture resembles sludge.
3. Drop marshmallows in the bowl to represent birds and animals.
4. Have one student blow, first gently, then harder, on the oil through the straw. Tell the students
that wind and waves push the oil but the oil continues to float to the surface.
5. Observe the marshmallows and the interior sides of the bowl. Point out that a layer of oil coats the
marshmallows and the side of the bowl as crude oil would coat the oceans shoreline and wildlife.
6. Place a pipe cleaner in the oil. Ask a student to try to remove the oil with a paper towel. How
hard is it to clean the pipe cleaner?
7. Ask a student to skim the oil from the water with a spoon. Discuss how difficult it is to remove oil
from water.
Note: Use a different bowl for each rotation. At the end of the lab, please clean out all 4 bowls in
preparation for the next day’s lab.
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Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #2: Storm Drains and Water Pollution
This activity is designed to demonstrate to students what an average storm drain collects during a rainfall
event and how the water from storm drains can impact the water quality and aquatic environments of local
streams, rivers, and bays.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
 Clear container
 Funnel
 Watering Can with water
 Green Food Coloring (pesticides/fertilizer)
 Vegetable Oil (motor oil)
 Soil/Sand/Pebbles (erosion)
 Grass Clippings (or Shredded Paper) and Twigs
Use a separate clear container and funnel for each rotation. At the end of the lab, please clean all
containers and funnels in preparation for the next day’s lab.
PREPARATION:
Fill the clear container halfway with water and place it on an accessible area where the students can easily
view it. Place the funnel on top of the water filled container. The funnel represents the storm drain and the
bottom container represents the waterway that the storm water mixes into after entering the storm drain.
PROCEDURE:
 Introduce this activity with a discussion of storm drains and storm drain systems and their purposes.
Discuss where the water and objects that float down into a storm drain go. Have students list all of the
things that they can think of that might enter a storm drain during a rainstorm.
 Assign a pollutant to each student. (1 T. Vegetable oil, soil and sand, shredded paper, 3 or 4 drops of
food coloring)
 Have each student place his/her pollutant into the storm drain. Use the watering can to create rain to
wash the pollutant into the waterway. While washing each pollutant into the waterway, review the
pollutant and its use or origin.
 Discuss the following questions: How does the pollutant damage the environment? Do the people who
are responsible for the pollutant want to damage the environment? Why did they do what they did?
How can this type of pollution be stopped?
 After adding all of the pollutants, examine the contents of the waterway. Discuss how the waterway
has changed and how viewing this change makes the students feel.
FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS:
 What types of the pollution are natural?
 What types of pollution are added by people living in local communities?
 How can we remove the pollution from the water?
 What could be done to stop pollutants from entering storm drains?
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Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #3: Global Warming
Introduction: Global warming refers to the rise in temperature at the Earth’s surface and lower
atmosphere over the last century. Most scientists believe that greenhouse gases produced by human
activity are contributing to global warming. The danger in this warming is that it could disrupt Earth’s
climate patterns, cause coastal flooding, and force major adjustments in the way people live. The more
we are able to learn about the causes and effects of global warming, the better prepared we may be to deal
with the possible consequences of a changing environment.
General Information: The ozone layer in our atmosphere protects the Earth from the sun’s harmful rays.
Our atmosphere is under increasing pressure from greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (from the
decay or combustion of animal and vegetable matter), nitrous oxide (produced by combustion/burning),
and methane (from the decomposition of organic material and coal) which threaten to change the climate.
When the atmosphere is healthy it is an efficient system able to adapt to changes. Chloro-fluorocarbons
(CFC) from our refrigerators and fire extinguishers destroy and damage the ozone layer in our
atmosphere. When the ozone layer is damaged, radiation from the sun passes freely through to the Earth.
This radiation becomes “trapped” by the greenhouse gases that are produced here on Earth much like the
glass roof and walls in a greenhouses trap warmth from the sun. That’s where we get the term
“greenhouse effect” to describe how the Earth is becoming relatively warmer. When we cut down huge
forests, we take away plants that could use the carbon dioxide in the air which also traps the sun’s
radiation.
PART 1
In this experiment, students will use models of the Earth’s atmosphere to see how it is warmed by
sunlight (simulated by the 100 watt bulbs in the lamps). Your first group will construct the experiment.
Groups 2 - 4 will monitor the temperature in the jars and graph the results. (The graph sheet is included
in your station but we do not have a copy of it electronically.)
Materials:
 2 large pickle jars
 2 laboratory thermometers
 White cardboard
 8 ½ x 11 white copy paper from desk supply box
 Transparent tape
 Clear plastic wrap
 Rubber bands
 Anti-fog solution
 2 lamps with 100 watt bulbs
 2 fine tip colored markers
 Graph sheet
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
Timer
2 extension cords
Preparation:
You will create 2 models of the Earth’s atmosphere. Model A will be the control for the experiment. It
represents Earth’s atmosphere as it would be without greenhouse gases to trap energy from the sun.
Model B has a cover (the plastic wrap) that helps capture the energy from the lamp (or sunlight). The
cover acts like the greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.
Procedure:
 For Model A: Tape a strip of white cardboard that is a bit longer and wider than the lab thermometer
on the thermometer. Place the lab thermometer inside a pickle jar so that it leans against the inside
wall at a slight angle.
 For Model B: Wipe the inside of the jar. This will make is possible to read the thermometer even if
water vapor condenses on the inside of the jar. Prepare Model B as with Model A with the
thermometer, then seal the jar opening with clear plastic wrap and a rubber band.
 Place each pickle jar on a sheet of the copy paper directly under a lamp. Make sure each lamp and
pickle jar are the same distance from each other. Before you turn on the lamp, record the temperature
of each jar with a different colored marker at Time = 0. The jars should be turned so that the heat
from the lamp does not fall on the faces of the lab thermometers. The lamp light should fall on the
backs of the white cardboard instead. This way, you will get accurate readings of the air temperature
inside the jars. (You might find it works better to turn the jars on their sides and position the lamps
very close of the jars.
Record the temperature of each jar on the graph sheet every 5 minutes. With groups 2-4, explain how the
experiment was constructed and discuss what is happening in the jar.
Note: The first class may assemble the experiment. Subsequent classes should review how the
experiment is constructed. Describing this experiment is a great lesson in “control” and “variable”
experiments.
PART 2
Materials Needed: A thermometer, and 3 plastic grocery bags per student
Experiment
The hand wrapped in plastic bags represents how the toxins emitted in the atmosphere are trapped.
 Students will take the temperature of the room and record its temperature
 Distribute 3 plastic bags and 1 thermometer to each student.
 Students will wrap one hand with the 3 plastic bags, leaving the other hand bare.
 Students will slide the thermometer between under the plastic bags and record the temperature in
their journals after 3 minutes.
The students will compare their data with one another and discuss their findings.
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Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #4: Air Pollution
Supplies
Part 1
 Vacuum
 Coffee filter, one per rotation
 Magnifying glasses, one per student
 Rubber bands
Part 2
 Scissors
 Index cards, white, one per student
 Hole punch
 String
 Two-sided tape
 Wax paper
 Sandwich bags
General information:
Dust turns sunsets orange and red. It does other good things, too. But dust and other particles can also
make you sick— especially if you have allergies or asthma.
Imagine yourself relaxing. Your brain controls your breath automatically. In… Out… In… Out…
The air has oxygen and other chemicals. But it also carries dust, tiny animals, and other stuff. Some of
this stuff is clinging to the hairs of your nose. Let’s see what’s hiding inside your nose.
Part 1 Procedure:
Demonstrate that small particles of dust exist in the air we breathe. Cover the end of the vacuum nozzle
with the coffee filter. Use a rubber band to hold it in place. Vacuum the air and then observe the dust and
other small particles collected on the filter. Discuss the possibility of bacteria or other germs (that are not
visible) "catching a ride" on these larger dust particles. Discuss where these particles end up e.g., our
noses, eyes, ears, mouth, skin, hair, etc.
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Part 2 Procedure:
Make Air Pollutant collectors:
 Punch a hole in the index card and tie a string through the hole for hanging.
 Put several pieces of two-sided tape on the index card.
 Wrap the collector in wax paper, place in a sandwich bag for the student to take home.
When the students take them home they can hang the card in any location. They can also make more
when they get home to compare different areas of their houses.
Leave them for 1 day or for one week and compare the amount of dust collected on the tape.
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NAME _______________________________________________
Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #1: Oil Spills and Water Pollution
Are oil spills easy or difficult to clean up? _______________________________________________
Station #2: Storm Drains and Water Pollution
Can you prevent water pollution at home? ____________
If so, how? _________________________________________________________________________
Station #3: Global Warming
Although two different models were used - one for the control and one for the experimental variable most things were kept the same. What were they? ___________________________________________
What is the one thing that was changed - the variable? ________________________________________
What happened to the temperature in Model A? _____________________________________________
What happened to the temperature in Model B ______________________________________________
Station #4: Air Pollution
Is there air pollution in this room? ____________________________
List some causes of air pollution __________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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Discovery Lab
Pollution
3rd Grade
Station #1: Oil Spills and Water Pollution
Are oil spills easy or difficult to clean up? ___Difficult________________________________________
Station #2: Storm Drains and Water Pollution
Can you prevent water pollution at home? ______yes______
If so, how? ___Don’t let toys go down the storm drain, don’t litter in the street so that it goes down
during the next rain______________________________
Station #3: Global Warming
Station #4: Air Pollution
Is there air pollution in this room? ____yes________________________
List some causes of air pollution __Car exhaust, factories, aerosol, _____________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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