ESS3.A: Natural resources

Soils around the world vary in color, texture, structure, and chemical, physical, and biological composition. Slides and activities on soil orders

In the hot, wet areas of the world, large jungles can form, with lots of different trees, animals, and flowers. Not all tropical soils are jungles. Includes slides and activities

Everything that we eat has nutrients. Nutrients get into the soil many different ways: from decomposed animal waste and dead plants, the atmosphere, weathering of rocks and bacteria conversions. Slides and activities

Every soil sample that you touch is different from all others. Slides and activities

Soils differ because where and how they are formed

There is a lot of life above the earth. But in most systems, there is more life BELOW the soil than above it. Slides and activities

This section provides an overview about the importance of soils to the human world, history, and housing. Slides and activities

Forest soils form where it is not too hot, and not too cold. The type of soil that forms depends on what type of vegetation grows. Includes slides and activities

Teachers Guide for Soil! Get the Inside Scoop book. Site includes readings, slides, activities related to soil properties, and biomes.

Students investigate how the factors that influence erosion work together to produce an overall erosion rate. In agricultural areas, these factors are rainfall-runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, slope characteristics, and agricultural practices. Students analyze changes in precipitation predicted by climate change models to consider how a changing climate could influence erosion rates in agricultural areas.