Soil is an ecosystem, full of both living organisms and nonliving factors. These factors interact within the ecosystem to support one another. Find out what methods are used by soil scientists and microbiologists to measure the diversity of life in soil. Students will be given a scenario and led through this series of activities to determine the healthiest soils. This unit features 3 lessons and 9 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Grades 7-12. Compostable plastics are a new generation of plastics that are biodegradable through composting. They are derived generally from renewable raw materials like starch (e.g. corn, potato, tapioca etc), cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid etc., are non-hazardous/non-toxic in production and decompose back into carbon dioxide, water, and biomass when composted. Some compostable plastics may not be derived from renewable materials, but instead made from petroleum or made by bacteria through a process of microbial fermentation. This unit features 3 lessons and 2 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

The technology innovations in use in the agriculture industry have been touted as second only to those of the US military. What are these innovations? GPS guided tractors, follow-along equipment, application of fertilizer or herbicide only where needed, variable rate planting, artificial intelligence that can identify weeds and spray them individually—these are just a few of these innovations. This unit illustrates how ozobots can be used to simulate one of these advances. This unit features 4 lessons and 7 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Have you ever done a DNA extraction? Most DNA extractions are done with a known source and students can visualize DNA. The favorite items are strawberries or students’ own cheek cells. This unit shows what biotech scientists do next. This unit features 2 lessons and 3 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Understand and appreciate food producers through this case study and determine what decisions must be made on a yearly, monthly, or daily basis to maintain an environmental system that will continue to produce food and products to meet consumer demands while maintaining soil and water quality. This unit features 3 lessons and 7 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Soil tests show the pH and nutrient amounts in a field. Soil chemistry determines the amount of root growth, the amount of nutrients that can be held in the soil, and the ability of plants to take in and use those nutrients. But why is pH important and what are the consequences of different levels of pH? This unit features 3 lessons and 5 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

This activity is an indoor lab investigation where students compare and contrast different growing environments for a lima bean seed and discover the optimal conditions needed for growth.

Students learn about geotechnical engineers and their use of physical properties, such as soil density, to determine the ability of various soils to offer support to foundations. In an associated activity, students determine the bulk densities of soil samples, and assess their suitability to support foundations.

Students determine the mass and volume of soil samples and calculate the density of the soils. They use this information to determine the suitability of the soil to support a building foundation.

This activity is a investigation where students observe soil and rocks, record their similarities and differences, interpret their findings, and are guided to develop a new investigable question.

Students conduct experiments to determine what environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They use chunks of carrots for the materials to be decomposed, and their experiments are carried out in plastic bags filled with dirt. Every few days students remove the carrots from the dirt and weigh them. Depending on the experimental conditions, after a few weeks most of the carrots have decomposed completely.

Waste disposal has been an ongoing problem since medieval times. Environmental engineers are employed to develop technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the United States. In this lesson, students will learn about the three methods of waste disposal in use by modern communities. They will also investigate how engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent leachate from polluting the underlining groundwater.

Students learn about landslides, discovering that there are different types of landslides that occur at different speeds from very slow to very quick. All landslides are the result of gravity, friction and the materials involved. Both natural and human-made factors contribute to landslides. Students learn what makes landslides dangerous and what engineers are doing to prevent and avoid landslides.

Students leach organic matter from soil to create a water sample with high dissolved organic matter content (DOM), and then make filters to see if the DOM can be removed. They experience the difficulties of removing DOM from water, and learn about other processes that might make DOM removal more effective.

Students explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model houses placed in the flood plain. This activity is a small-scale model of a debris chute currently being used by engineers and scientists to study landslide characteristics. Much of this activity setup is the same as for the Survive That Tsunami activity in Lesson 5 of the Natural Disasters unit.

This video features the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander and what it discovered. With behind-the-scenes access, NOVA scienceNOW covers the Mars lander Phoenix's thrilling descent to the martian surface and its critical early days of operations. Phoenix will digs into the permafrost to obtain samples of martian dirt and ice for analysis in onboard labs, seeking any evidence that the Red Planet might once have sustained microbial life -- or perhaps still does. [52:20]

How would you define an ecosystem? Check out this educational resource to learn more about the living and nonliving parts of different ecosystems.

In this video from WOSU Columbus, learn about the soil and water in wetland ecosystems and the chemical interactions that enable wetlands to cleanse themselves. [0:55]

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 bricks for strength by dropping them onto a concrete surface from progressively greater heights. Students graph the experiment results and use what they learn to design their own special mix that maximizes the bricks' strength. During the course of the experiment, students learn about variables (independent, dependent, control) and the steps of the engineering design process.

A wonderfully detailed introduction to the topic of wind erosion and landforms. Contains many illustrations and maps which show the concepts that are presented in the text.