- Soda Pop Bottle Science - pierrepocs
Finally, I located a copy of Bottle Biology, a spiral-bound instruction book put out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My children love Pop-Bottle Science, so when I heard about Bottle Biology, I set out to find it.
As the story goes, while raking his garden, Paul Williams, a professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, asked himself what might be going on in the middle of the large compost pile he was creating. Why not put some of the leaves in an empty soda bottle, he wondered, and watch them to find out.
About Bottle Biology Experiments
You don't have to get the Bottle Biology book to do bottle biology experiments, but after visiting the Bottle Biology website, you'll probably want it. On the website, you'll discover that you can use soda bottles to
- create an ecosystem,
- explore the concept of niche,
- model a lake shore,
- ferment cabbage (sauerkraut), or
- make a bottle microscope, bottle timer, or bottle tweezers.
You can print out this overview of Bottle Biology (pdf) or this Bottle Biology workshop handout (pdf), both with the basic information and instructions to get you started doing bottle biology activities.
Bottle biology experiments begin with the construction of an "investigation column," such as the decomposition column created for the compost pile experiment, or a fermentation chamber for observing sauerkraut or kimchee.
You can learn more about bottle biology at learner.org where you'll find building instructions for the
- TerrAqua Column,
- Brassica & Butterfly System,
- Field Population System, and
- EcoColumn.
More Bottle Biology Experiments
- Build a soda bottle bioreactor
- Bottle biology aquarium
- Observe composting in a bottle
- Worm composting in a soda bottle (pdf)
- Fruit fly trap
- Climate change bottle habitat (pdf)
- Bottle biology lab ecosystem
- Bottle biology Global Science Challenge
Bottle biology allows you to do fun and interesting experiments in an inexpensive and practical way. There's no complicated scientific equipment. You can recycle your plastic soda pop bottles into ecosystems, fish aquariums, specific habitats, fly traps, spider breeding grounds, or even sauerkraut fermentation chambers. In addition, you can construct scientific tools such as the bottle microscope, bottle timer, and bottle tweezers.
Use your imagination. The ideas presented in the book and on the Web are only the beginning. Bottle biology encourages you to not always answer your child's questions. Invite them to observe and figure things out.
You might also enjoy: Worm Farm Science Projects and Using the Scientific Method with Kids.
Source: Wisconsin Fast Plants Program. Bottle Biology. Kendall Hunt Publishing, December 1994.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
