Observe the power of decomposers with this easy-to-implement science experiment for year 4.

Students will observe the effects of different ground covers, i.e. soil and sand, and their impact on how a cucumber decomposes. For this experiment, you will need:

1. 3 jars or zip lock bags
2. 1 cucumber
3. a knife
4. garden soil
5. playground sand.

Students will hypothesise what they think will happen before revisiting the experiment subjects at regular intervals to document their appearance.

Implement this as a whole class or in small groups, with each group conducting and observing their own experiment. A blank version of the template is included if your students wish to test a different aspect of decomposers, i.e.

1. How does sunlight affect the rate at which cucumbers decompose?
2. Does moisture affect the rate at which cucumbers decompose?
3. Which vegetables decompose the fastest?

Print the experiment template and observation pages back-to-back for each student. Print additional observation pages if you want to do more than three observations after initialising the experiment.