Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Soil Composition Soil Soaks Up Water
In this classroom activity, young scholars will show how soil composition affects the amount of water the soil holds. They will test sand and soil independently and then create their own mixture.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Does Media Matter? Infiltration Rates and Storage Capacities
Students gain a basic understanding of the properties of media- soil, sand, compost, gravel- and how these materials affect the movement of water (infiltration/percolation) into and below the surface of the ground.
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: Seashore Science
Come and learn with this incredible seashore science resource. The content includes fun facts, experiments, reproducible activities, resources and more.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Fast Does Water Travel Through Soils?
Students measure the permeability of different types of soils, compare results and realize the importance of size, voids and density in permeability response.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Groundwater Movement
Learners learn how water moves through rock materials such as sand, gravel, and clay.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Making "Magic" Sidewalks of Pervious Pavement
Students use everyday building materials- sand, pea gravel, cement and water- to create and test pervious pavement. Groups are challenged to create their own pervious pavement mixes, experimenting with material ratios to evaluate how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Obi Wan Adobe: Engineering for Strength
Students conduct an experiment to determine how varying the composition of a construction material affects its strength. They make several adobe bricks with differing percentages of sand, soil, fibrous material and water. They test the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering for the Earth
Young students are introduced to the complex systems of the Earth through numerous lessons on its natural resources, processes, weather, climate and landforms. Key earth science topics include rocks, soils and minerals, water and natural...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: A Study of the Process of Sediment Deposition and Particle Sorting
Learners will investigate the way particles are sorted during deposition using gravel. sand, clay, potting soil, a 2L bottle, and water then form hypotheses as to why sorting occurs in this way.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environment
Through 10 lessons and more than 20 hands-on activities, students are introduced to the concept of an environment and the many interactions within it. As they learn about natural and human-made environments, as well as renewable and...
![Indiana University Bloomington: Modeling Liquefaction [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Indiana University Bloomington: Modeling Liquefaction [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington: Modeling Liquefaction [Pdf]
This activity allows students to observe a small-scale model of liquefaction, a hazard associated with strong-magnitude earthquakes. The sand, water, and ping pong ball(s) represent the composites of soil: sediment, water, and air,...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Erosion
For this investigation, students will use sand to build a mountain and then use a straw and watering can to simulate wind erosion and water erosion. Students will make observations and then propose ways to slow the erosion and/or speed...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Trickles Down?
Permeability is the degree to which water or other liquids are able to flow through a material. Different substances such as soil, gravel, sand, and asphalt have varying levels of permeability. In this activity, students will explore...