Curated OER
Soils are the Pits!
Students dig soil pits in order to observe soil features and the factors of soil formation and soil forming process. Students also examine the relationships among different soils in a series of soil pits.
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Selecting Soil Organisms in Compost
Students conduct an experiment to demonstrate that many of the enzyme systems needed to break down society's wastes exist in nature among the decomposers in a compost pile. They culture compost bacteria on starch agar to examine the...
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Choose Your Own Soil Adventure
Ninth graders will use a soil survey to make management decisions and by interpreting geologic maps. The importance of different soil types is discussed and the implications of how soil can be useful for our communities.
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Do You See What I See?
Students hypothesize the role of rocks, soil, and water by observing a terrarium and create a model to explore the water cycle. This is part of a five station set up.
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The Dirt at Your Feet May Limit Your Growth
Students examine how soils within a community may enhance or inhibit development. In small groups, they analyze county soils maps, and develop a prospectus for a construction company looking to construct a housing development site.
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Investigating Soil
Fourth graders swap local soil samples with another school and examine the differences. They research soil properties, identify organisms that live in soil, create and maintain a biome of soil decomposition and design a poster to present...
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What Effects Do Trees Have On The Environment?
Students examine the interrelationship between trees, soil and people focusing on urban areas. They collect and analyze data about trees in their research area.
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What's Happening Below The Surface?
High schoolers determine the soil composition of soil layers in their area. They collect soil samples, calculate the percentage soil water content, analyze data, and evaluate each site for future tree growth.
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Environment: Water Flow
Students brainstorm the ways that water flows when it falls to the ground. After discussing three things water can do, they investigate and predict water movement outdoors on school grounds. They experiment ways to alter the water flow...
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The Rock Cycle
Third graders, in groups, examine soil samples with magnifying glasses. They discuss the living and non-living things they find in their soild samples.
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New Jersey Estuaries Water Filter Activity
Students examine how an estuary's plants and soil filter water before it flows into the ocean. They complete a lab report drawing and writing about what they observe after completing a water filter activity.
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Soil Composition
Young scholars investigate how soil composition affects plant growth. In small groups, they plant various seeds in different soil mixtures, record plant and seed growth, and analyze the results.
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Soil Formation...It's a Dirty Job
Students create a HyperStudio program about soil formation in their own area. They develop a list of the steps it takes to turn bedrock and organic material into soil, and create and present their HyperStudio stack to the class.
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Flower Power: Kansas Quarter Reverse
Learners examine the Kansas quarter reverse and explore the basic needs and life processes of plants. They take a nature walk around the school and draw living and non-living things. In the classroom the sort the specimens collected into...
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With Liberty and Top Soil for All
Middle schoolers describe the need of plants to have water, soil and sunlight to grow. They use the scientific method when completing experiments. They identify the core democratic values that are needed for a democracy to grow and...
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Dirty Pictures
Students investigate how food, clothing and shelter come from soil after they examine soil from their own backyards. They map soils on the color wheel before making glue and soil pictures and tie-dying T-shirts in red soil.
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Let It Rain
Students study the effects of water erosion on soil by gathering and analyzing data during an experiment. They decide on appropriate units of measurement to apply in problem solving.
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Soils, Water and Erosion
Middle schoolers participate in a hands-on experiment to compare how water and soil erosion affect soil and grass. They determine how slope affects erosion and how terracing affects erosion. They write a paragraph summarizing their data.
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Let it Grow, Let it Grow, Let it Grow
Students investigate, through a hands-on activity, in which type of soil a bean seed grows best. They create a bar graph representing each plant's growth in different soils.
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Farmers and Growers
Students explore the lives and work of the farmers and growers of specialty crops of the West. The amount of land and natural resources needed, the fertilizers utilized, and the market available for the crops are investigated in this...
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Sediment Tubes
Students observe how different density soils and rocks behave in wind and in water. They make predictions and careful observations as they explore sediment transport and sediment rates in streams and rivers.
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Science: Seeds to Plants
First graders compare and contrast different seeds before planting them. They assess the basic needs to plants and conduct experiments of deprivation of those needs. They write stories and draw pictures of plants which are bound into a...
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Get the Dirt
Students investigate a variety of soil samples placed in cold water jars. Layers of soil are examined for the difference between organic matter and rock fragments.