Friday, March 11, 2011

Soil Experiment

In this activity students compare different types of soil and do an experiment to see which of their sample soils holds water best.

Soil Properties:
  • color
  • texture
  • particle size 
  • ability to contain water 

    Materials
    • different soils (sandy soil, fertile soil, silt, clay soil, etc.)
    • hand lens
    • plastic cups (2 sizes)
    • small containers
    • measuring cup
    • water



    Activity 1 (Color)
    • Place different soils in containers.
    • Have students use a hand lens to observe.


    sand and potting soil

    Activity 2 (Texture and Particle Size)

    Have students feel the soil and write down their observations.
    • Does the soil feel rough, smooth, etc.?
    • Are the particles large, small, very small, etc.?




    Activity 3 (Ability to Contain Water)

    • The teacher should make a few holes in the bottoms of  the smaller cups.
    • Put equal amounts of each soil being tested into separate cups that have a few holes in the bottom.
    • Position the soil cups over larger cups for collecting water.
    • Pour an equal amount of water into each cup.
    • Observe the water as it flows through the soil and collects in the large cups. Write down your observations. Does the water flow quickly or slowly?
    • After a set amount of time (15 minutes) measure the amount of water that collected in each cup.
    • Record all data.
    • Which of the soils do students think would be the best for planting? Why?  

    1 comment:

    1. I find you made amazing when you picked out this topic of this article of yours. Do you usually make your posts all by yourself or maybe you work with a partner or an assistant?

      ReplyDelete

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