Soil Conservation Lesson

Watch the video in the next slide (open in a new tab and click on the CC option to read subtitles), and pay attention to the following topics in the video to answer the questions in slides #3, 4 and 5:

- soil crucial tasks
- The Dust Bowl (1930s) --> see image to the right
- ways to protect / conserve soil

​How does dirt work?

Open Ended

What are the soil's crucial tasks in our planet? (3 items)

Audio Response

Explain what the Dust Bowl of the 1930s was -- how did it happen, and what were the consequences of it?

Open Audio Recorder

Word Cloud

What is ONE WAY to conserve the soil (seen in the video)?

*PERCOLATION = water passing through the layers of soil

​Sand holds no water; silt holds some water; clay holds lots of water

​Sand: Bad for farming; heavy leaching of nutrients and soil drying due to rapid percolation rate

Loam: Ideal for farming. Moderate water retention and percolation rate

Clay: Bad for farming: becomes waterlogged due to slow percolation rate

Watch the video and pay attention to following topics:

​- the 3 particles that compose the soil
- what happens when there is too much sand in the soil?
- what happens when there is too much silt in the soil?
- what happens when there is too much clay in the soil?

​Soil Analysis Video

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Open Ended

​- the 3 particles that compose the soil

Categorize

Options (3)

Water will filter too quickly

Plants will not be able to thrive (soil compacts too much)

Water would be trapped in the soil (water logged)

Organize these options into the right categories

Too much sand

Too much silt

Too much clay

Match

Match the following soil conservation alternatives to their correct concepts

• Preserving native vegetation

• Windbreaks

• Cover crops

• Strip cropping

• Contour plowing & terracing

• roots hold on to soil; trees shelter it

rows of trees and shrubs that slow wind

fully blanket the soil, sheltering it

alternates row and cover crops

follows natural elevation curves of land

• • roots hold on to soil; trees shelter it

• rows of trees and shrubs that slow wind

• fully blanket the soil, sheltering it

• alternates row and cover crops

• follows natural elevation curves of land

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Audio Response

What is crop rotation, and why is it important to conserve the soil?

Open Audio Recorder