Soil Health

About this Lesson Plan

Lessons designed for years 7-9

Use these lessons, designed for years 7-9, to draw links between soil and water catchment, and the geography and land use of the Port Phillip region.

This lesson, Soil Health includes hands-on activities that explore soil types while students learn some of the ways plants work in a symbiotic relationship with soil microbiota.

The lesson, Water Catchment shows students that water catchments link places in the city food bowl, and examines some of the decisions people make in managing the health of the catchment.

Both lessons build on and refer to material in the Soil Health and Water Catchment videos, and can be used to cement and extend learning from the case study videos.

Summary and links

Victorian Curriculum Links
Science Years 7, 8 & 9
VCSSU089, VCSSU090, VCSSU101, VCSSU093, VCSSU115, VCSSU116, VCSSU121, VCSIS134

Key Concepts
Key terms and concepts
Introduce key terminology and revisit any terms that need reviewing, such as:
Use the Glossary for these terms and others.

Part 1: Plant Health and Soil

Watch the soil health video with Declan and Tom

Part 2: Soil Structure and Types of Soil

Watch the Soil Health Animation with Alice Zaslavsky

Part 3: Water Movement in the Soil