Topic: The importance of soil

Target group

2nd‑grade student of high school and technical school (basic programme)

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Geographical knowledge.

6 . Understanding the principles of rational management of natural resources and preservation of cultural heritage.

Specific requirements

XIII. Man and the geographical environment – conflicts of interest: the impact of human activity on the atmosphere on the example of smog, hydrological investments on the geographical environment, agriculture, mining and tourism on the geographical environment, transport to living conditions and degradation of the natural environment, urban and rural development on the cultural landscape , man's conflict of interest – environment, processes of revitalization and pro‑ecological activities.

Student:

3) analyzes examples from the world and Poland of the impact of agricultural activity, including crop rotation and agricultural monoculture, chemization and mechanization of agriculture, drainage and excessive grazing of animals on the natural environment;

10) assumes an attitude of co‑responsibility for the state of the Earth's natural environment.

General aim of education

The student will learn about the importance of soil in nature

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• you will tell the stages of soil formation;

• you explain what role the soil plays in nature;

• you explain the term „soil degradation”;

• you will tell factors leading to soil degradation;

• provide solutions for improving the quality of degraded soils or protecting the soil from degradation.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • lecture.

• activating

  • discussion.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• multimedia resources contained in the lesson „Meaning of soil” in the e‑textbook;

• map of population density in the world (wall, in atlas or in electronic version);

• map of agricultural areas in the world (wall, in atlas or in electronic version).

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher writes the topic of the lesson on the blackboard or interactive whiteboard. Students write it in notebooks..

• The teacher explains the aim and planned course of the lesson. They explain the success criteria to be achieved by the students.

Realization

• The lecturer discusses the course of the soil‑forming process and the composition of typical soil using the presentation illustrating the stages of soil formation and a pie chart from the lesson „Soil significance” in the e‑textbook.

• The teacher explains the meaning of the term „soil degradation” and presents a map showing the degree of soil degradation in the world.

• The teacher divides the class into six groups. Each group analyzes the degree of soil degradation on one continent and looks for the causes of this state of affairs. Students can use population density maps and maps of agricultural areas (wall, atlases or in electronic version).

• A representative of each group presents the effects of working together. After the students' answers, the class discusses the impact of agriculture and urbanization on soil degradation.

• The teacher launches a film devoted to the importance of the soil from lessons in the e‑textbook and a video showing the method of producing compost for their own needs. He then asks pupils to come up with ideas for using compost to improve the quality of the soil near the place of residence or other solutions to improve soil quality or protect it from degradation. All ideas are saved on the current board.

• Working individually, students solve an interactive exercise (multimedia), the aim of which is to repeat and consolidate all the material from the lesson.

Summary

• The teacher goes on to summarize the lesson, during which the students may ask for additional explanations and complete the notes. The teacher also asks for optional homework..

Homework

• Homework consists in making a short photojournalism on the subject of „How I implemented ideas for improving soil quality or its protection against degradation.” Students can do this individually, in pairs or in groups, using ideas developed during classes.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The importance of soil

Soil is composed of rocks, minerals, water, air, and organic matter. The presence of the latter humus is crucial as it allows most plants to grow and, as a result, entire ecosystems connected with them, such as forests, arable land, or meadows.

The soil formation process is time- consuming. It starts with the weathering of rocks. Thanks to the presence of water, conditions are ensured in the rock mantle for the least demanding organisms, such as bacteria, algae and lichens, to grow. Their remains subject to decomposition enable the growth of more complicated organisms. This way the rock mantle is enriched with organic matter, transforming into soil.

In natural conditions, the matter circulates and the substances obtained from the soil by plants sooner or later return to it (food chain!), thus the situation is stable. Everything changes when we start to engage in wasteful exploitation of soil for farming purposes – we use the soil’s resources but when harvesting crops, we fail to give back the minerals taken by plants. If this lasts for too long (depending on soil fertility, sometimes a few years is enough), the soil loses its productivity. This is referred to as soil degradation

There are many causes of soil degradation and they often overlap.

The most common one is overgrazing – the animals eat plants so quickly that they fail to grow again. As a result, soil is uncovered, mainly its humus level. Wind and rainwater easily remove it, which makes the soil lose its properties quickly. It is particularly characteristic for dry land and semi‑dry land, especially in the Sahel, Africa. Similar effects are caused by wasteful deforestation, but the consequences are visible much faster.

Farming, if improperly conducted, also contributes to soil degradation. Long‑term, irrational exploitation leads to the reduction of humus content. This results in reduced amount of nutrients in the soil, but also deterioration of soil structure, limited ability to retain water, reduced activity of soil organisms, and impaired chemical stability.

The most obvious solution is to use fertilisers. The best ones are the natural ones, but usually there is too little of them. If fertilisers are improperly used, they may be counterproductive. For example, with too high doses, the soil may become contaminated – the soil microorganisms die, heavy metals are activated, and pH changes (acidity rises), which impacts the ability of plants to intake nutrients. Overfertilisation is typical for highly developed countries with intensive farming.

The extent of soil degradation varies. For every continent, though, it means reducing the ability to deliver agricultural produce. The problem, however, is not of the same importance everywhere.

In Europe, population growth is very slow and a lot of agricultural produce is imported. In addition, in highly developed countries of Europe, North America or Asia, productivity is rising and agricultural production on non‑degraded soil is growing. In Africa, on the other hand, especially in its Sub‑Saharan part, the situation is completely different – population rises very fast and poor economic growth limits the ability, or even makes it impossible, to import food.