Our friendly soil

Description

• Age of pupils: primary school

This project aimed to create awareness of soil’s importance for the survival of living things through theoretical and practical activities carried out in both in the classroom and in the field. It included four meetings for eight year old students. In the first meeting, the students met with a soil scientist who introduced the topic. They connected the topic to daily actions and habits of the students to make it graspable. The second meeting was in the field, and the concepts brought up in the first meeting was explored. They touched the soil to get a better understanding of soil composition, how it changed with seasons, and how plants grow. They discussed the role of the farmer and how consumer’s food choice impact, and they also plant quinoa seeds. In the third meeting, a food technologist supported the exploration of the relationship between food, soil and biodiversity. They used mini seedbeds to understand fragility and importance of care for plant. The last meeting was again held in field. They saw flowering fields, pollinating insects and microorganisms. The main activity was to watch the quinoa seeds they planted in the second meeting to illustrate how it developed from soil to table. Again, the role of consumer’s was brought up and discussed.