Soil science - start now to reap the rewards later

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Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Biology and Environmental Science.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Shad Nelson from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He leads the START NOW programme that seeks to improve Hispanic participation in agriculture through experiential learning in soil science, plant science and environmental science.
• This resource also contains an interview with Dr Nelson.
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Dr Nelson’s research and challenges them to imagine they’re soil scientists aiming to encourage more diversity in their
field and planning an open day at their university

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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