Name: Hadassa Graham Date: 1/29/2019

Area: Plant Science/ Soil

Job: Identifying & interpreting soil textures in samples
Situation: Students in Intro to Ag have been exploring why soil is important in Agriculture and the world. The last
lesson they identified what five components make up all soil and the general horizons that make up a soil profile.
Earlier in the unit students chose a soil sample and set up a texture samples. This lesson will focus on determining
the soil texture of the soil sample and identifying the characteristics that go with that soil. Soil texture has an
influence on other soil characteristics. This lab provides a lot of connections to soil characteristics and can be
applied in many different ways.

Standards:
 PLSC.11.04.a- Identify different methods of determining soil texture (soil ribbon test and the USDA soil
texture triangle, solids separation)

 PLSC.11.04.b- Recognize potential plant growth problems associated with soil texture (tightness, poor
drainage, temperature variations, etc)

Targets/Questions/Objectives:
 Students will calculate percent sand, silt, and clay
 Students will classify the texture of their soil sample
 Students will explain how water moves through the soil

Notes: In Ag Notebook
Delivery Method: Lab Activity/ Lecture / Demonstration
Materials Needed:
Soil Texture Triangle Handout Ag Notebooks
Soil Samples Soil Texture Handout
Calculators
Rulers

Plan of Action (Time included):

Routine- Announcements. Split Ag I and Ag Comm

Daily Goals- 2 minutes

Students grab their Ag notebook and write the daily goal that is on the board. It refers to the objective that the
students should accomplish today in class. Students know where it should be written in their notebooks. 2 mins

Goal- We will determine the texture of our soil samples and explore the impacts it has on nutrient availability and
plant growth.

Review- 3 minutes
Last lesson we made a soil profile using pudding and cookies as soil horizons. It was delicious, but soil profiles will
not always look like that. Say a farmer wanted a profile done on his soil, we would have to dig a pit in order to look
at the horizons. Have pictures on slide show. Review the different soil horizons and explain the role/ characteristics.

The Perfect Percentage- 5 minutes

Imagine that its summer time and you are home free. Not a care in the world, you have nowhere to be. Today is the
day you are going to figure out what the best combinations of activities makes up the best day and how long you
should spend doing those activities. Have students give you a list of things that they like to do in the summer time.
From that list, students need to choose three things to do, and determine what percentage of the day you should
spend doing it. The whole day is 100%. All three activities must add up to 100.
Have students share what their perfect percentage is. Teacher demonstrates. Ask students how to find percentages.
Transition into finding soil texture.

Finding Soil Texture- 12 minutes

Notes Set up
Find your Soil Texture Lab- Please copy the chart on the right hand side.

Particle Type Height (centimeters) % of total sample size

Whole Sample 100%

Sand
Silt

Clay

% particle= height of particle

Total height of sample x 100

Students need to take a ruler and are allowed to have their phones out to use as calculators. Make sure students
know to use centimeters as the samples are small. Grab your soil sample, taking care not to shake it, and start
measuring. Students may need some help distinguishing the layers and doing the math. Allow for 10 minutes for
students to figure it out.

After students have found their percentages, go ahead and demonstrate how to use the soil texture triangle. Pass
the Soil Texture Triangle references for students to use and keep. Double check with each student to make sure they
can use it correctly.

Have students go around and share where the soil sample is from and what the soil texture classification they came
up with.
Questions
1) How do you think water moves through your soil sample? Does it go slowly? Does it drain fast? Why?
2) Do you think that your soil holds a lot of nutrients? Why or why not?
3) What other characteristics do you think soil texture influences?

Ask students to share their thoughts. What surprised them? What went the way they thought it would go?

Soil Characteristics
Simple soil tests can tell us a lot about the soil we are working with. For the average farmer/rancher, they don’t
have the time or the equipment to be super scientific about soil, but they do need to be informed about the soil
that way is remains healthy while being productive for intended uses.

Soil texture tells us what soil we are working with, and it gives us an insight to how water might flow through it and
how it retains nutrients. We are going to explore how water moves through the soil for plant availability.
Water Availability
Watch the video on Soil & Water on ICEV.
Students need to answer the following questions:
-

Knowledge/Skills/Dispositions targeted on this lesson:

Knowledge
- different soil textures
- soil characteristics
 - percentages and fractions
Skills
- Calculate percentages
- Problem solving
- Using a Soil Texture Triangle
Dispositions
- Confidence is measuring
- Public speaking in small group

Assessment Plan – What did students learn? How do you know?

Ticket Out the Door- Quick assessment to see if they can use their notes and prior knowledge to answer potential
exam questions.
1) Which soil horizon is called the subsoil? What role does it play?
2) Provide one example of how soil is connected to Natural Resources

Daily Goal
Check in to see if students are struggling or if they put forth effort in today’s class.

Attached:
 Content
 Activity
 Assessment


Resources:
Soils 4 Teachers- https://www.soils4teachers.org/soil-horizons/

Reflection

- Interest approach worked really well! Connection between finding percentages and planning the perfect day
needs to be stronger- Why are we doing this activity? So What?
o May include finding a more applicable scenario to apply percentages
o Did work great to get student’s minds in math mode and applying it to something
- Would be good to review the measurements on a ruler- why we are using cm instead of inches
- For better results, use something bigger than test tubes?
o Good for storage, hard to get accurate results
- Go over how to use the soil texture triangle better- practice problems and having a student get up there and do
it.
o Went over it, students said they were ok. Students really struggled to find the soil texture after they got
their measurements.
- Fortify lab experiment by making a full lab- Hypothesis, research, experiment, observation, conclusion, and
conclusion questions.