Mrs. Westwood’s 5th graders at Wasatch Elementary recently learned how important earthworms are for breaking down dead material and returning nutrients to the soil. Their lesson took place over two activities: first, students closely observed live earthworms, noticing how they move and respond to their surroundings. Then, they designed their own “fair test” investigations to explore worm behavior.
To start, students ran a simple experiment—repeating it several times—to find out whether earthworms prefer dry or wet environments. After that, they brainstormed new questions and planned their own fair‑test experiments to learn even more about these helpful organisms.