Read Me First
Resource Conservation
Transition to No-Till
-Penn State Publication
- Scientific American
No till and raised beds
-OSU publication
Under good management,
minimal disturbance of
the soil
decreases fuel usage,
increases infiltration,
decreases runoff,
increases yields,
decreases the need for
fertilizers,
decreases the
amount of annual weed
seeds
Some pages
under construction:
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.Documents require
Adobe Acrobat
How to Make a Liquefaction model (Original Design) (85 KB)
How to Make a Liquefaction model (Newer design) Two bottles can be joined with a 1 inch inside diameter hose and a 1 inch garden hose filter between them. This is much better than using the cheesecloth or window screen for a filter. Waterproof glue is used to connect the bottles and hose. I will add illustrations of this in a week or so. (85 KB)
2. Using a multitiered filter to demonstrate the filtering capacity of soils Draft of a lesson plan suitable for elementary or secondary educators which includes materials and preparation, background information, student procedure and a student worksheet. (Using green food coloring - more complex concept of preferential adsorption.) - Interpretation - Some soils can clean water better than others. We need to perform soil tests to evaluate which nutrients need to be added to soils, and only add enough to be used in the root zone, and not enough that they will be leached into the ground water. Lesson plan using red food coloring.
Filtration
(200 KB)
Powerpoint (547 KB)
Background (22 KB)
3. Biodiversity/importance of soil organic matter (less tillage = Higher organic matter content)
Infiltration into no-till
(19.6 MB)
5. Operation "Get Dirt".
Pictures of the soil sampling trip to Afganistan
How to Make a Liquefaction model (85 KB)
Poster
|
"The
Scoop on Soil" - Interactive game 
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 
Movies
and background material. (Aggregate stability or slaking test)
Preserving samples from the infiltration/runoff model to illustrate the difference between no-till soils as compared to conventionally tilled soils.
"4th Grade Lesson Plan"
by Sylvia Hottell, SWCD, Floyd County, Indiana - See individual
materials referenced for credits. 
Soil Quality and Land Use Changes
on a Humid Tropical Island - Palau by Robert Gavenda and Jason
Nemecek
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)
The PENNSTATE Corn and Soybean Management Page for the 5 Acre Corn Club
Steps Toward a
Successful Transition to No-Till
-Penn State Publication
No-Till: How Farmers are Saving Soil by
Parking Their Plows
- Scientific American
No till and raised beds boost yields -
New Agriculturist
No-Till Cropping Systems in Oklahoma-OSU publication
Pedon PC
NASIS Reports - Interpretations
Field Measured Properties
Metadata
Quality Assurance of Point Data
Analysis Tools
NCSS+ Characterization Data
Historical_replicas