Curated OER
What's in the Soil?
Fourth graders examine soil to find its contents, and how much water and air they can measure. In this soil composition lesson, 4th graders perform three experiments and record their results. In one experiment they examine...
Curated OER
Soil Type and Management
Students study the basics of soil science. They research and gather data through readings, videos, and performance of laboratory investigations. As a team they generate oral and written recommendations for the amendment of soil.
Curated OER
Investigating Planetary Soils
Students study soil characteristics and identify properties of soils from different parts of the solar system. For this soil lesson students divide into groups, read soil descriptions, test and record soil samples.
K20 LEARN
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Seventy thousand different types of soil exist in the United States alone. Young scientists learn about the importance of soil to the food supply. They test soil for a variety of factors and determine the best place to set up a community...
Curated OER
Soil Composition: Then and Now
Students identify the location of their school from a 1926 digitized Soil Sample map. Using remaining landforms, they determine the type of soil identified during that time, and compare it to the soil currently found near the school.
Curated OER
What Kind of Garden Would Grow in Our Schoolyard?
Students perform soil tests for pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, composition and water percolation rate and assess the conditions in the schoolyard.
Teach Engineering
A Good Foundation
It takes a strong foundation to build a house and a stronger one for a bridge. This resource presents the effects of geology and soil on bridge foundations. Working in groups, the class investigates the interaction of shallow and deep...
Curated OER
Lab: Percent of Composition of KClO3
High schoolers find the percent of oxygen in potassium chlorate. In this percent composition lesson plan, students heat a solution of potassium chlorate using a catalyst, manganese dioxide, to decompose the potassium chlorate and release...
Curated OER
What is the Composition of Soil?
Students examine the different components that make up soil. Using data, they identify the components of soil in their local area and discover how scientists use the soil to see how it was formed. They also describe the soil forming...
Curated OER
Determining the Percolation Rate of Soil
High schoolers discover how water moves through different types of soils. In groups, they use the same sample from a previous activity and empty it into a milk carton in which they have layered with cheesecloth to determine the...
Curated OER
Soil Testing and Measurement
Students prepare their garden plot. In this gardening lesson, students use the Internet or book on plants to make sure the plants they have selected will be able to grow in their garden. The students assess and mark out the garden...
Captain Planet Foundation
Worm Your Way Out of This
How can you provide healthy soil for your garden? Study worms, bacteria, and other microorganisms in a lesson plan about decomposition and organic compost. After discussing what you know about worms and watching a video, watch what worms...
Curated OER
Necessary Nitrogen
Students view a video that presents the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen. They compare types of soils and consider how different fertilizers affect soil composition.
Curated OER
What's in Wetland Soil?
Students examine the organic and inorganic components of soil. In this environmental science lesson, students identify the factors that influence soil formation. They collect soil samples, conduct tests, and analyze the results.
Curated OER
Field Trip Preparation
Students prepare for a field trip. They navigate through a Underground Network site. This "field trip" can be conducted in a patch of healthy grass or soil anywhere you can find it: right outside your building, in a backyard or at a...
Curated OER
Traditional Soil Remediation in the Garden
Learners use testing kits to analyze garden soil. They research the nutritional needs of various crops as well as the nutritional properties of fish. Students participate in fish harvesting for garden fertilizing.
Curated OER
The Properties of Clay
Sixth graders determine the physical properties of clay by examining ceramic works of art. They evaluate local soil samples for suitability for sculpting and compare clay taken from soil to manufactured clay.
Curated OER
The Water We Drink
Third graders relate that the quality of their drinking water is subject to the condition of the environment and water found in streams and creeks in their community. They track the travel of a wad of paper from a student's desk to a...
Curated OER
You want me to do what with this Dirt?
Eighth graders explore how to take soil samples and use GPS to determine the location of the site they have chosen to take the samples.
Curated OER
Detecting Magnetic Materials in "Martian" Soil
Students simulate some of the Pathfinder experiments by devising methods of collecting and measuring magnetic substances in pseudo-Martian soil. The efficiency of each of the methods used to collect materials is evaluated in this lesson.
Curated OER
ME402: Growth of Yeast
Students investigate the growth of yeast in a sugar solution. They verify the pressure of carbon dioxide using bromothymol blue. Students are asked to describe the difference between the contents of the test tubes used and to explain...
Curated OER
pH Potential
Students experiment to determine the positive and negative impacts of human activities on environmental change. They examine how physical and biological processes such as decomposition affect soil characteristics while looking at the pH...
Curated OER
Reflection and Absorption of Light
Students use a microcomputer connected to a light sensor and temperature probe to explore the reflection and absorption of radiation for different surfaces. Students follow instructions in this guided inquiry based lab and are then asked...
Curated OER
Reading the River
In collaborative groups, young ecologists measure the temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen for three different freshwater samples. They examine each sample with a microscope and record observations on the microorganisms in the pond...