Soil Resources

Soil Education from the Natural Resources Conservation Service: Basic soil info, state soils info, lesson plans and resources for teachers and students, and much more. A very good and very thorough resource. Lesson plans for grades K-6 can be found here.

Dig It! The Secrets of Soils: An excellent soil exhibit/website from the Smithsonian.

Soil Layers from EnchantedLearning.com: Basic information on soil layers and soil horizons.

Soil Science Education from NASA: A huge collection of soil science information from NASA.

About Soils from the Soil Science Society of America: An overview of soil and soil science.

The Twelve Soil Orders: A nice photo atlas link on the 12 soil orders and their profiles from the University of Idaho.

John Muir Study Guide: This site uses naturalist John Muir’s life as a launching point into lessons on a wide variety of environmental science topics. Includes a Grade 2 lesson plan focused on soil science.

EE Activities – Soils: From the North American Association for Environmental Education. Links on this page are for activities and materials dealing with soil ecosystems.

Plant and Soil Science Lesson Plans: A variety of pdf and word doc lesson plans from Michigan State University.

World Soil Information from ISRIC: An independent foundation funded by the Netherlands Government that aims to inform and educate – through the World Soil Museum, public information, discussion and publication. Lots of comprehensive, global soils information.

Joint Research Centre Soil Image Catalogue: Images of soils from around the world.

Soil Biology Primer from the Natural Resources Conservation Service: A government site on soil biology that includes more information on soil bacteria, fungi, protozoa and animals, as well as soil food webs.

Soil Biological Communities from the Bureau of Land Management: Another government site on soil biology that includes more information on soil bacteria, fungi, protozoa and animals, as well as soil food webs.

The Ground Crew from North Carolina State University: Directions on how to build a simple Berlese trap, with some nice pictures of the soil invertebrates you might commonly find and a description of simple mathematical calculations of the population density of invertebrates in an area from a Berlese sample. This is a nice site designed for educators with examples of student research projects.

GLOBE Program: Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE)is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA and NSF Earth System Science Projects in study and research about the dynamics of Earth’s environment. Includes general info on soils, as well as student- and teacher-specific content.

 

Video Resources

Soil Texture – Environmental Science: A short video on soil texture and how to test for clay, silt and sand.

Soils Sustain Life – Soil Science Society of America: A more in-depth video featuring soil scientists discussing soil’s role in sustaining life on earth, including food production, environmental, and water management issues.

Water Movement in Soil from the NRCS: A short video illustrating how water and soil interact.

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The MSP project is funded by an ESEA, Title II Part B Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant through the Montana Office of Public Instruction. MSP was developed by the Clark Fork Watershed Education Program and faculty from Montana Tech of The University of Montana and Montana State University, with support from other Montana University System Faculty.