USGS Learning Activity: What's In My Soil?

The United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) has developed a series of online educational resources for a variety of topics and different age groups. The target age groups span from K-2 to college students, and the topics covered include:

• Biology/Ecosystems
• Geography
• Geology
• Global Change
• Natural Hazards
• Ocean/Coasts
• Water

In the What's in My Soil? activity, middle school level to college level students learn how to separate, examine and identify the major components of soil to better understand how these components give soil its unique physical characteristics. The activity, which can be found here, is divided in 6 sections:

• Activity Sheet A: Separation
• Activity Sheet B: Observations
• Activity Sheet C: Computations
• Activity Sheet D: Good Soil Mix
• Activity Sheet E: 3-Point Diagram
• Activity Sheet F: Grain Size