Soil Formation

Today we were placed into groups and were given the task to research a topic in earth science that we aren't confident on teaching. The topic I was given was Soil Formation. The task of this lesson is to follow the 5 E's framework: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Each section of this lesson plan provides a different task to complete. Whether it's through watching videos, reading through power points, looking at articles, or creating different models focusing on soil formation, this lesson framework was incredibly effective and beneficial for me when it came to learning about a new topic I was not confident on. The Soil Formation 5 E's Lesson can be found here! This way of teaching a new topic was incredibly helpful for me because it brought forward so many different tools to learn about new material. After going through each task of the lesson, I am definitely more confident on Soil Formation and with just a little time to review, I could teach a lesson about this topic with no hesitation. Provided below is each section of the lesson plan in great detail. All of the videos, power points, articles, websites and much more are provided below. 

1. Engage

NASA's Earth Minute: Dishing the Dirt

• Think of soil as a sponge. It can absorb a lot of water but will eventually become full. Or it can dry out as the water evaporates.
• Knowing when the soil is getting too dry helps us plan for droughts, prepare for food shortages, and identify places where wildfires can spring up.
• Knowing when the soil is too wet and can’t absorb more rain, helps us better predict floods and landslides.
• Tracking soil moisture from space helps us improve weather forecasts and climate models. And it helps farmers know when to plant, water and harvest their crops.

Dirt! The Movie Trailer

• Dirt might be more alive than we are
• "We are dirt"
• Tells the story of Earth's most valuable and under-appreciated source of fertility

North American Population now: 353,860,000 people make up 4.9% of the world’s population.

Population in 2050: 441,062

Without soil, life on Earth would not exist. Majority of our food is dependent on soil and if that food is not grown, than we do not have food to consume. Healthy soil provides us with fresh fruits, vegetables, and even certain meats which is crucial to our survival. Soil helps grow the fibers that weaves our clothes, gives us a stable place to support our homes, and provides the fossil fuels that keeps our engines running. Soil acts as a purifier for our water and air and helps control erosion and flooding. Without clean soil, we would not survive! It's more than just "dirt." People have such a negative connotation towards dirt, but it is crucial to our survival and a lot of people don't even realize it!

2. Explore

PPT Presentation: Review Slides 12-16 (focus on slide 16)

The power point presentation provided explains in detail about soil formation and each step that goes along with it, including terms like weathering, exposure, particle size, mineral composition, climate, parent material, transported and much more.  The power point slide provided below is extremely important when it comes to discussing soil formation. These slides were very helpful for me and helped me understand the steps of soil formation much more clearly.

3. Explain

After watching Dirt! The Movie trailer, I've become more aware of how important dirt actually is to our survival. This short two minute clip only gives me a brief overview, but it is incredibly informative. We dependent on dirt to purify and heal the systems that sustain us. You have to grow food for humanity and even for nature and dirt is a huge building material that benefits us. "We are dirt." I didn't even realize that deadly conflicts are being broken out because of the lack of fertile soil. So much can happen if soil is not here for us. Some of the comments on the video I found are extremely accurate and make me want to watch the movie myself!

"Really great movie which features prominently neglected truth."

"Finally people are realizing that we need to stop destroying the things that keep us alive...especially dirt!"

"Very thought provoking."

4. Elaborate

Read this article!

Based on the article, the green-roof movement has sky rocketed and has grown food to feed millions of people a year. This movement has a lot of environmental benefits that could be beneficial for us to conserve soil and use it more efficiently, especially to grow crops. Our community could definitely take part in this idea because of the success it has shown. Even though there may be a few obstacles with this idea, I think that this is a movement that we should jump towards.

5. Evaluate 

Here is NYS, our soil does not often match our underlying bedrock.