Dig Into Soil

The Dig Into Soil classroom module helps to fulfill the following concepts in the Next Generation Science Standards:

Kindergarten

K-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
• K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.

Second Grade

2-ESS2 Earth’s Systems
• 2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

Third Grade

3-LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
• 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
• 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Fourth Grade

4-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
• 4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Fifth Grade

5-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
• 5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Middle School

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
• MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

MS-ESS2 Earth’s Systems
• MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
• MS-ESS2-2. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

MS-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
• MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

High School

HS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
• HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

HS-LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
• HS-LS4-5. Evaluate the evidence supporting claims that changes in environmental conditions may result in: (1) increases in the number of individuals of some species, (2) the emergence of new species over time, and (3) the extinction of other species.
• HS-LS4-6. Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

HS-ESS2 Earth’s Systems

• HS-ESS2-5. Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.

HS-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
• HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.