Investigating Soil Conservation Techniques
Earth ecoSTEM Kit Materials Used: Mr. Landscaper Drip Irrigation Kit
ENGAGE - Students Observe This Phenomenon
GATHER
REASON
EXPLORE a Kit-Supported Learning Experience
Students can review Mister Landscaper’s Drip Irrigation Installation Instructional Video 1 and Video 2. Then they will map the area where drip irrigation is to be installed (using YardMap’s online tool or baseline/offset sketch on graph paper), designing the most effective layout to conserve soil and provide enough water to keep the largest number of plants alive, without wasting water to evaporation. Competing plans can be presented and the most effective one implemented by the class.
EVALUATE
Students can explore permaculture and how it can reverse desertification by watching Allan Savory’s Ted Talk; or watch this video to learn about an experiment conducted by Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, who dumped 12,000 metric tons of orange peels on barren land.
ELABORATE
Students should be able to explain the value of drip irrigation both in terms of conserving water (by targeting irrigation at roots and reducing evaporation) and conserving soil (by preventing it from drying out and blowing away or flooding and leeching nutrients).
EXTEND
Students may research and explore strategies for reducing wasted water, soil conservation techniques, and soil and water conserving garden systems like hügelkultur and keyhole gardens with compost heaps in the center.
COMMUNICATE
Revised EXPLANATION
After making sense of a core idea by engaging in science or engineering practices through the lens of crosscutting concepts, students revise their original explanations of a phenomenon.
EMPOWERMENT
Students may propose solutions to conserve soil and water and choose a project from the Extend section to do.