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Dig into Soil with LOESS: New Learning Scenarios on Scientix®
If you’re looking for a new way to bring STEM to your classroom in the next school year, why not look right beneath your feet? Soil is much more than just dirt, it is a real laboratory where biology, chemistry, and environmental sustainability meet!
The LOESS project has curated a new collection of learning scenarios that are now available on Scientix®. These resources are created by educators for educators, offering inquiry-based activities that will get your students out of their seats and into the real world.
Why use these in your classroom?
These learning scenarios move beyond textbooks to make your students face real-world challenges like biodiversity, climate change, and food security. These materials will help you:
- Simplify complex topics like pH levels, nutrient cycles, and microbiology.
- Apply an integrated STEM approach; combine competencies from more than one STEM subject – biology laboratory skills, math calculations, engineering principles – or guide students to engage with soil creatively, incorporating aspects of Art, Music, and roleplaying.
- Improve and foster "Soil Literacy" as part of the Horizon Europe LOESS initiative to raise awareness about our planet's health.
Each resource is designed to be practical, engaging, and easy to adapt to your specific curriculum needs:
- The wonderful world of soil – A sensory and coding introduction for younger students.
- Sustaining Our Invisible Life – Mapping biodiversity with Citizen Science apps.
- Which soil tastes better? – Testing permeability and plant growth with local soil samples.
- From Soil to Sustainability – An interdisciplinary STEM journey using real-world data.
- Chemistry in the Soil – Investigating pH and nutrients to uncover soil health secrets.
- New SOILution: The clues beneath our feet – Exploring history through soil layers and hydroponics.
- Invisible Microbial Allies – Studying microorganisms that support healthy soils.
- Digging Deeper – Examining human impacts on local parks and beaches.
- Towards a “Bright Blue Dot” – Combining astronomy, AI, and soil moisture analysis creatively.
- Green Roof = The City’s Garden – Designing sustainable urban ecosystems.
- Soil Health: Why it’s a timeless must – A comprehensive guide using the 5E Instructional Model.
All of these resources are free to download from the Scientix repository, along with many other teaching materials.
Explore them to inspire your students and make soil the foundation of your next lesson!