Students will understand how soils help grow healthy plants, and the various ways plants help maintain healthy soils (including adding organic material and roots creating pore spaces).

View Lesson
Discipline
Life Sciences
Grade Level
9-12
Lesson Area
Soil Basics
Soil Biology
Soils and Plant Growth
Lesson Type
Teacher's Guide
Lesson Keywords
substrate
Macronutrient
Micronutrient
essential nutrient
cellular respiration

Next Generation Science Standards

Grade Discipline Core Idea
9-12 LS1.A: Structure and function

Systems of specialized cells within organisms help perform essential functions of life. Any one system in an organism is made up of numerous parts.  Feedback mechanisms maintain an organism's internal conditions within certain limits and mediate behaviors. 
9-12 LS1.B: Growth and development of organisms

Growth and division of cells in organisms occurs by mitosis and differentiation for specific cell types.
9-12 LS1.C: Organization for matter and energy flow in organisms

The hydrocarbon backbones of sugars produced through photosynthesis are used to make amino acids and other molecules that can be assembled into proteins or DNA.  Through cellular respiration, matter and energy flow through different organizational levels of an organism as elements are recombined to form different products and transfer energy.