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See http://soils.usda.gov for additional 508 compliant versions of this material. The versions on this page are formatted to be printed as handouts and posters. The versions on the soils.usda.gov site are formatted for reading from the web.

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

   A very effective demonstration to encourage stewards of the land to plant with minimal disturbance to the soil (less or no tillage) (91 KB)

   
   

   Movies and background material for the soil organic matter demonstration. (Aggregate stability or slaking test) (9.1 MB)

    

   
   

2. A great publication on biodiversity and conservation tillage
   • Better Soils with the No-Till System by Sjoerd W. Duiker & Joel C. Myers

    

3. "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. (This version is for Windows)

   

   Technical support for "The Scoop on Soil" Help and directions for including the "Scoop on Soil" on a CD-ROM and labels.

    

   

4. The MAC version of The Scoop on Soil
   • The scoop on Soil For MAC

    

   

5. A Temporary home for Claude and an example of an Educational CD with Claude as the host.
   • A Sample Education CD from Illinois with Claude as the host (The GAME will not run from this web site. It must be downloaded using the link above and unzipped for the game to actually run on your computer.) All of the other links from the CD run on the Web just as they do from the CD.

    

6. Example 4th Grade Lesson Plan

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

    

    

7. Soil Quality page
   • Soil Quality

    

8. Pictures
   • I am building a gallery of pictures. Captions are included with some, otherwise the title of the page provides the subject and captions will come later.

    

9. Runoff and infiltration combined in one demonstration

   Comparison of runoff and infiltration using undisturbed samples from fields managed using no-till and conventional tillage systems (154 KB)

    

    

   Illustration of the mini lysimeters working (458 KB)

   Powerpoint version so you can edit and change the background (11.5 MB)

   How to demonstrate runoff and percolation using mini lysimeters (44. KB)

   Ninteen second movie clip-conventional tillage undisturbed soil (no-audio) (176 KB)

   Movie clip of conventional tillage (disturbed soil and blue background) (no-audio) (5.6 MB)

   Four minute movie clip comparing conventional tillage undisturbed, conventional tillage disturbed and no-till (no-audio) (4.2 MB)

   Movie clip for no-till (with-audio) (19.6 MB)

   Six links to some Soils Related Environmental Sites

   U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - "Hurricane Response - Summary of Sediment Testing: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita"

   "Terra preta: unearthing an agricultural goldmine" by David Bennett (Delta Farm Press)

   "The Hills are Sagging" by Don Commis, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture

   Erosion_and_sediment_control - More posters, pictures, and short movie clips

   "New Orleans Soil Poses Hazard - Study Finds Elevated Lead Levels in Neighborhoods" by David Brown (Washington Post)

   "What about contaminated soils as a result of Katrina?" See an article posted by the American Chemical Society

    

10. Filtration experiments
    • How to demonstrate filtration using bottles and soil (200 KB)
    • Powerpoint version so you can edit and change the background (547 KB)
    • Description of how to use the model (22 KB)
    • Sample speech using model as a visual aid (32 KB)

     

11. Posters for kids
    • What is Soil Made Of? (162 KB)
    • What is Soil Made Of? (464 KB)
    • Plants and animals need to be able to breathe in the soil (117 KB)
    • Plants and animals need to be able to breathe in the soil (96 KB)
    • Plants need water too (162 KB)
    • Plants need water too (105 KB)
    • What color is soil? (229 KB)
    • What color is soil? (2.4 MB)
    • Soil compaction (197 KB)
    • Soil compaction (1.9 MB)

     

12. More posters and Read Me First - A Guide to the Resource Conservation Kit for Educators (The guide includes background material for posters)
    • Resource Conservation Kit for Educators (197 KB)
    • Soil erosion model (98 KB)
    • For More Bottle Biology Ideas and Credits
    • Power of raindrops (430 KB)
    • Soil experiments for the classroom (120 KB)
    • Soil organic matter - Aggregate stability (91 KB)
    • Soil texture (512 KB)
    • Soil particle size (95 KB)
    • How to make a soil monolith (197 KB)
    • How to make soil structure samples (197 KB)
    • How to make soil structure samples (11.8 MB)
    • Soil air (95 KB)
    • Soil air (2.6 MB)