Soil
What are my learning targets?
How am I going to learn them?
Components of Soil Notes- see link below for presentation. These visuals/notes will be used to build simple background knowledge surrounding the learning targets. Students will practice note taking strategies and use them as a resource in their Plant Science Journal for reference.
How will I know I learned them?
Soil Type Lab Practical
Food Web Assessment/Diagram
Pop Bottle Ecosystem Interview/Assessment
Discuss the processes involved in soil formation over time.
Identify six components of soil.
Distinguish between the three components that make up organic matter in the soil.
Describe the four types of soil texture.
Name the factors which have the greatest effect on soil structure.
Use a soil card to evaluate soil structure.
Name four types of organisms that are important in the soil ecosystem
Define soil biodiversity.
Identify the five trophic levels in the soil food web.
Describe five ways the soil food web helps plants
Demo- Prepare a tray of soil types, with examples of sand, silt, clay and loam separated into numbered compartments. Use this tray to illustrate the differences in the particles. Have students compare sand, silt, and clay to size of balls. Sand-basketball, silt-softball, clay-golf ball. Demo the passage of water through each soil type. Hypothesize the pros and cons.
Order soil types samples and test kit (lamotte?).
Soil Class Lab- Students will be given different types of soil and develop a soil test for determine %clay, %silt, and %sand. Use the table Characteristics of Soil Classes to discuss the characteristics of each type of soil.
Use the illustration Soil Particle Shapes to talk about the various shapes . Have students determine how water would move through the different aggregates: granular, crumb, platy, prismatic, massive, columnar, blocky and single grain by imagining them packed together.
Benefits of Soil Organisms Notes- see link below for presentation. These visuals/notes will be used to build simple background knowledge surrounding the learning targets. Students will practice note taking strategies and use them as a resource in their Plant Science Journal for reference.
Explain the importance of carbon and nitrogen for living organisms.
List three places where carbon is stored on our planet.
Describe how carbon cycles in plants.
Describe two ways that atmospheric nitrogen is converted into forms available to plants.
Collecting Soil Organisms Lab- Students will collect and preserve various microorganisms from different soil locations. They will infer the what each organisms niche is and hypothesize about organisms not visible with the tools provided. Students will diagram the biodiversity present. Students may construct a Burlese funnel or pitfall trap to carry out their study. See Georgia Organic Curriculum or Cornell.
-Describe the different trophic levels and use the graphic illustration of the Soil Food Web to show how they are connected.
Do the activity Soil Food Web to help students understand the connections between the different organisms. Be sure to discuss what happens when one type of organism is removed from the food web.
Soil Nutrient Cycles Notes- see link below for presentation. These visuals/notes will be used to build simple background knowledge surrounding the learning targets. Students will practice note taking strategies and use them as a resource in their Plant Science Journal for reference.
Use the illustration Carbon Cycle to discuss where carbon is stored on our planet and how it moves from one place to another.
Use the illustration Nitrogen Cycle to discuss the movement of nitrogen from place to place. Be sure to emphasize that plants can not use gaseous nitrogen but must absorb nitrogen compounds from the soil.
Use an illustration of the Water Cycle to discuss the different physical changes of water and the flow of energy through a system.
Pop Bottle Ecosystem Lab- Students will build a pop bottle ecosystem using principles of ecology- producers, consumers, photosynthesis, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, water cycle, symbiosis, carrying capacity. They will monitor and measure variables within the system and identify feedback loops.