Curated OER
Manage Soil
Students identify and classify soil ypes according to data on the soil triangle. Given examples, students identify soil conservation practices, using criterion assessment instrument. When giving a case situation involving soil...
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Dirt Life
Students select and collect soil samples from a variety of locations (schoolyard, home, etc.). They do this lab after an interest-generating discussion about "dirt" and microbes. Students make a dilution in sterile water, plate it on a...
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Characteristics of Plants
In this characteristics of plants worksheet, students conduct an experiment on how a vascular plant moves nutrients to all its parts. They describe the difference between the celery leaf from sugar water and plain water. Students also...
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Chemistry In Plant Nutrition And Growth
Students investigate different factors that affect plant growth. They research the effects of water supply, radiant energy, air temperature, and soil temperature. Students also gather facts that influence plant nutrition that include the...
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Where do Plants Get their Food?
In this where do plants get their food worksheet, students design an experiment that will disprove the idea that plants obtain their food from soil. Students will set up their experiment and design a data table that will record data over...
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Field Crops in the Agro-ecosystem
Ninth graders explore how to apply ecological analysis to cropping systems. In this agro-ecosystem lesson students study management practices including soil and fertility.
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Eco-enrichers
Students discover the importance of plant and animal components within soil. In this soil instructional activity, students test the quality of soil. Students then conduct an experiment adding different components to bags of soil to see...
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Sustainable Agriculture
Students perform an experiment to find out if plants grow best when grown in soil with no fertilizer, with chemical fertilizers, or with compost that they have made themselves. Students discover how agriculture practices can benefit the...
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What Land Works Best?
Fourth graders explore different types of land. In this land activity, 4th graders investigate how water, climate, and soil type determine what types of crops may be grown. Students discover these elements while playing an interactive game.
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TE Activity: How Fast Can a Carrot Rot?
Students experiment to define which environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They decompose carrots in dirt, weigh the carrots periodically to determine how long it takes. They look at how engineers use this type of...
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Eat Your Flowers
Learners grow flowers in different soil mediums to determine the effect on flavor. In this investigative lesson students study flowers, plant them and taste them to see how they differ in different potting soils.
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The Root Show
Students investigate plant roots. In this plant lesson, students discover the function and structure of plant roots. Students plant a plant in a milk carton with a clear section cut out in order to observe the roots of the plant.
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COMPARE SOILS BY GROWING PLANTS
The student will identify the difference in the rate of plant growth in three soils that vary in organic matter.1. Obtain three to four flowerpots, different types of soil, a record chart, three to five beans for each pot, and water....
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Soil Microbiology- Nitrogen cycle
Students take a virtual trip to a Catfish Aquaculture Pond and analyze soil bacteria to determine how many nitrogen cycle bacteria are present. They graph the number of colonies present and use data to determine ammonium levels in the soil.
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Soil and Agriculture: Lesson 4 - Agriculture and Soil
Students determine how the various levels of minerals in the soil, as well as the pH of the soil, affect the growth of plants in these plant growth experiments.
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Root, Root, Root for the Nutrients
Students observe the growth of a seed, predict what will happen when seeds are planted without soil, and conduct an experiment using a hydroponics system.
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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...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Role of Plants in Water Filtration
Investigate the amazing ability of plants to filter contaminants from water with this series of in-class demonstrations. After placing six small, potted plants in plastic cups, different solutions and mixtures are poured into them that...
Curated OER
Word Grid
For this soil worksheet, students find words that represent soil words in a word search. Students search for 9 words in this word search.
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Hydroponics
Students examine how to grow plants using a hydroponic system. In this hydroponics lesson students identify the advantages and disadvantages of growing plants hydrologically.
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Worm Composting
Second graders discuss worm composting. In this decomposition lesson, 2nd graders look at the anatomy of the worm and how it eats food. They have their own worm bin and review what foods can and can not be given to the worms for...
Biology Junction
Changes in Ecosystems: Ecological Succession
Can an area with no soil turn into a forest? Scholars learn about the process of ecological succession using an interesting presentation. It covers both primary and secondary succession in the building of new ecosystems.
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Case of the Missing Pumpkin
Scientists define and discuss decomposition, and watch pumpkins decompose and return to soil in classroom experiment. They record the date the experiment began, chart changes in pumpkins on a calendar, count how many days it takes...
It's About Time
Competition Among Organisms
Who knew plants could be so competitive? Join your class as they observe plants competing for space and nutrients. Middle and high schoolers describe possible effects of introducing a new species into an already established ecosystem,...