Delaware Valley Elementary students ask: What happens when leaves fall?
Young Life. Fifth graders work in pairs to investigate how organisms help break down fallen leaves.
| 06 Oct 2026 | 02:11
Mason Hedegaard and Declan Fitzpatrick investigate what happens to fallen leaves. (
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Jason Elivr Reyes and Lyla Barry investigate what happens to fallen leaves. (
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Amy Ibanez and William Rios investigate what happens to fallen leaves. (
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Victor Ortega and Ella Babb investigate what happens to fallen leaves. (
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Heath Fountain and Olivia Lyons investigate what happens to fallen leaves. (
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Where do all the fallen leaves go? Delaware Valley Elementary School fifth-grade scientists became detectives to solve the mystery.
Working in pairs, students participated in a hands-on simulation to investigate how different organisms in an ecosystem help break down fallen leaves. They had to work together, think critically, and use their detective skills to figure out who - or rather, what - was responsible for making the leaves “disappear” each year.
By the end of the investigation, students discovered that there isn’t just one culprit. Instead, many different organisms work together as part of the ecosystem to break down the leaves and return their nutrients to the environment.