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Life Above and Below Soil

Provided by: ClimateScience |Published on: April 27, 2021

Lesson Plans

345

Synopsis

This lesson plan and activity from ClimateScience teaches students about the important role of soil in healthy ecosystems.
Students will create posters that show plants and animals live above and below the soil and how the soil is important to their way of life.
Students will learn that healthy soil plays a vital role in agriculture, carbon storage, and organisms' habitats.
Links to high quality sources about soil are included on the student handout in the sources section.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Biology

Authors: ClimateScience

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

Students will explore the extensive biodiversity that lives beneath our feet.
The activity allows students to use their research skills, writing skills, and artistic skills to convey their understanding.

Prerequisites

The student handout should be shared with students digitally since the research sources are hyperlinked at the bottom of the page.
Students should be familiar with the vocabulary terms ecosystem, organic matter, carbon, habitat, and climate change.
The first YouTube video under Some Helpful Resources is no longer available.

Differentiation & Implementation

Advanced students can read more extensively about soil using the links found in the Sources tab.
In classes that have access to computers, students can create a slideshow instead of a poster.
After completing the poster activity students can create a comic strip of their poster organisms to explain the role that soil plays in storing carbon, helping crops grow, and providing habitat.
Other resources on this topic include this video on regenerative farming, this video (for advanced students) on soil formation and soil types, and this NOAA video on the carbon cycle.

Scientist Notes

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About the Partner Provider

ClimateScience

ClimateScience inspires young talents to seek careers in fields where they contribute to climate solutions. By providing beautifully illustrated, understandable, science-based educational content for free for everyone, they are building the fundamentals for Climate Education.