Read Me First
Resource Conservation

  Kit for Educators

 

 

 

 

 

 

  How to Build
Your Own Kit

 

  Steps Toward

  a Successful

  Transition to No-Till

 

  Some  pages
  under construction:
 Soil Quality Page

  Erosion and
  Sediment Control

  Pictures (Irrigation)

  Pictures (PA_No-Till)

  More Pictures

  More Soils

   Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Filtration (200 KB)

 Powerpoint (547 KB)  

 Background (22 KB)

 Sample speech (32 KB)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Runoff Model (154 KB)

No-till/

Conventional. (458 KB)

Runoff from

disturbed soil  

Soil is an amazing material. Soil, water and air provide the basis for human existence.  

Soil is the interface between the earth’s atmosphere and bedrock or ground water. Soils are very complex. Soil functions to clean our water, support our food supply, and serve as a foundation for our buildings and roads. The focus of this web page is to provide educators with some hands-on materials and descriptions of how to use those materials. The goal is to influence individuals to make wise choices that will help protect our soils so that they will be able to sustain life on earth.

Original webpage prior to redesign. This helps people that were familiar with the original site.

Documents require Adobe Acrobat , Microsoft Powerpoint , or Microsoft Word .
See http://soils.usda.gov for more material.

  1. Preserving Soil Specimens to Illustrate the Effects of Management Practices on Soil.

    Preserving samples from the infiltration/runoff model to illustrate the difference between no-till soils as compared to conventionally tilled soils.

     

  2. Biodiversity/importance of soil organic matter (less tillage = Higher organic matter content)

    Soils from No-till/less-disturbed fields hold together better than soils from conventional tilled fields. Planting with minimal disturbance makes for a more healthy soil environment for crops, and results in less erosion as well (91 KB)

    Movies and background material. (Aggregate stability or slaking test)

     

  3. Model for demonstrating the impact of management on infiltration and runoff of rainfall

    Diagram of the conservation model (How to make one)

    How to Show Runoff and Infiltration in one Model (154 KB)

    (Uses undisturbed soil to show management effects.)

    No-till vs Conventional tillage compared. (458 KB)

    Background material (44. KB)

Movie of runoff from disturbed soil  

 

Movie comparing runoff/infiltration from conventional tillage undisturbed, conventional tillage disturbed and no-till samples  (4.2 MB)

Infiltration into no-till (19.6 MB)
 
  1. "The Scoop on Soil"- an interactive game from Illinois NRCS for elementary grades

    "The Scoop on Soil" - Interactive game (22.1 MB) - Claude's "The Scoop on Soil" - To use: Download - Unzip - Browse to the "Scoop on Soil.exe" - click on the file to run.

    More Scoop on Soil: MAC Version; Technical help; Directions on how to add "The Scoop on Soil" to your own project, CD labels; and a link to the University of Illinois - The official home of "The Scoop on Soil".

     

  2.  Lesson Plans, Posters, and Visual Aids for Teachers

    "4th Grade Lesson Plan" by Sylvia Hottell, SWCD, Floyd County, Indiana - See individual materials referenced for credits. (216 KB)

    More Lesson Plans and Other Educational Materials


  3. Some Sample Soil Talks - Quick Messages about Soil

    If you had only a few seconds to make a point about soils, what would you say?

  4. NEW materials being developed






 Erosion and Sediment Control

 Example of combining materials from several sources

Example of linking educational standards to materials (South Dakota)

Example of linking educational standards to materials (West Virginia)

Under good management minimal disturbance of the soil decreases fuel usage/ increases infiltration/decreases runoff/increases yields/decreases need for fertilizers/decreases the amount of annual weed seeds

Steps Toward a Successful Transition to No-Till