Theme: Gardening
for a Sustainable Future
Sorting Out Soil
"When I asked my second through fifth graders what soil was,
they concurred that it was just made of dirt," reports St. Louis,
MO, teacher Brenda Kukay. "But after dissecting and inspecting
soils from different contexts, then trying to create some from
scratch, they were surprised at its life and complexity, and
began to appreciate it as something valuable," she adds.
"I began by setting out samples of soils from different areas
-- a building site, a spot outside school, and the classroom
garden -- then allowing groups of four students to freely explore
the samples with all of their senses, except taste," says Brenda.
"At first, the kids barely picked at it, viewing it more as
yucky stuff than as something worth exploring," she adds. "But
when I allowed them to carefully add water to the soils, then
explore the mud, they could hardly contain their enthusiasm."
# # #
We dig in it, build with it, depend on it for nutrients and
water that plants and people need to survive. Life on Earth
depends on the nutrient cycling that takes place in the soil
as microorganisms and larger animals recycle organic materials.
It can take hundreds of years to create an inch of this precious
resource, yet we often take it for granted -- or even worse
-- treat it like dirt!
Challenge your students to use their observation, communication,
and problem-solving skills to explore this complex, living resource
and to begin to understand its place in the ecosystem. If your
growing is limited to the indoor classroom, there are plenty
of ways to engage your students in active soil explorations.
An outdoor garden (or schoolyard nature area) provides a meaningful
laboratory for exploring soils and for applying what you learn.
What follows are suggestions for laying the groundwork, facilitating
investigations, and digging deeper with soil inquiries.
Using the activity, "Soil Sort" from GrowLab: Activities
for Growing Minds, Brenda challenged her students to work
in groups as "soil surgeons" to dissect their soil samples and
identify what they were made of. Teams of four students donned
simulated "surgical masks" and rubber gloves, then used toothpicks
and plastic spoons to tease out soil components. Students' lists
of items they'd found -- bugs, dead things, roots, sandy stuff,
and so on -- filled an ongoing chart titled What's soil made
of?
After examining what soils seem to be made of, students created
"mudshakes" to examine soil components as they settled out in
layers, then explored how their "patients" act by testing how
well different soils drain. As a culminating activity, Brenda
challenged each student to use what he or she had learned about
soils to create a "recipe" for a simulated soil. Brenda furnished
recipe ingredients (water, bugs, seeds, sand, leaves, and so
on), then invited students to try bringing them to life. "Although
the missing element, time, prevented students from creating
the 'real' thing (since soil takes hundreds of years to form),
the activities prompted students to become sharper observers,
to appreciate the life soil harbors, and to value it as more
than simply something to walk on," she concludes.
Author: Eve Pranis
© 2007
National Gardening Association