Soil at school project – Department of Geography at University of São Paulo

  The Soil at school made a list of 𝟏𝟎 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬. Check it out. Adults are also invited! It's worth watching! 1) 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋-𝐄 (2008) - In a distant, but not so unrealistic, future where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. One day, a spaceship arrive on Earth, bringing the advanced robot EVE. The two of them go on a journey together to make the Earth habitable again. Themes: - The responsibility that everyone should have in relation to the waste they produce; consumerism; the future of Earth and humanity; concept of sustainable development; and soil pollution. 2) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 (L'homme qui plantait des arbres) 1988 - The story of a sh...

Forest soils, where soil formation has been influenced by forest vegetation, are generally characterized by deeply rooted trees, significant ‘litter layers’ or O horizons, recycling of organic matter and nutrients, including wood, and wide varieties of soil-dwelling organisms. There are also soils now covered with forest vegetation, often plantations, on lands that were not naturally forested. These soils are probably undergoing processes that give them ‘forest soil-like’ characteristics, e.g., litter layers from trees, woody organic residues from deep roots, and associated soil microbe and fauna populations. Like other soils, forest soils have developed, and are developing, from geological parent materials in various topographic positions interacting with climates and organisms. Forest soils may be young, from ‘raw’ talus, recent glacial till or alluvium, or ‘mature,’ in relatively stable landscape positions. Just as forest vegetation of the world varies greatly, so do forest...

Texture  - The particles that make up soil are categorized into three groups by size:  sand, silt, and clay . Sand particles are the largest and clay particles the smallest. Although a soil could be all sand, all clay, or all silt, that's rare. Instead most soils are a combination of the three. The relative percentages of sand, silt, and clay are what give soil its texture. A loamy texture soil, for example, has nearly equal parts of sand, silt, and clay. Structure  - Soil structure is the arrangement of soil particles into small clumps, called "peds". Much like the ingredients in cake batter bind together to form a cake, soil particles (sand, silt, clay, and organic matter) bind together to form peds. Peds have various shapes depending on their “ingredients” and the conditions under which the peds formed: getting wet and drying out, freezing and thawing--even people walking on or farming the soil affects the shapes of peds. Ped shapes roughly resemble ba...

WHAT IS SOIL? Soils are complex mixtures of minerals, water, air, organic matter, and countless organisms that are the decaying remains of once-living things. It forms at the surface of land – it is the “skin of the earth.” Soil is capable of supporting plant life and is vital to life on earth. Soil, as formally defined in the Soil Science Society of America Glossary of Soil Science Terms, is: The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants. The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. So then, what is dirt? Dirt is what gets on our clothes or under our fingernails. It is soil that is out of place in our world...

Hello guys! Starting the activities of this blog, nothing more fair than a presentation about who we are and what we want! The research project on Soil Education, started in the Department of Geography of USP, under the initiative of Prof. Dr. Déborah de Oliveira in 2010. At the beginning there was only one student who started the research, in 2011 another 3 students joined us, constituting our group. Soil education is often forgotten in schools, or treated in a simple way, which can generate students disinterest. We will disseminate in this space the results of our research, guidance to teachers, experiments and exchange of experiences for soil education, after all it is a finite natural resource, as many others that must be respected and preserved. Beyond academic research we want to disseminate and make accessible materials and teaching methods that help teachers, students, and even other researchers in Soil Education. We will do this by addressing the subject of soil in a ...

Soils in regions of Andean Arid Climate    In July, I made a trip to Bolivia and Peru, and I came across totally adverse and unusual landscapes and weather. The dry climate at this time of year and the altitude transforms the landscape into a beautiful desert surrounded by mountains with snowy peaks.                                   (Mariana Franco de Carvalho 07/2012) But what interests us here is to observe one aspect of the Andean landscape, which immediately catches our eye, the desert soil. As a didactic example, I will take as an example, the city of Arequipa in Peru. Arequipa is located at the foot of the Misti volcano (with more than 5800 m of altitude) its urban site is close to the Coastal Desert of Peru, with maximum annual temperature not exceeding 23ºC and minimum low temperature of ...

Good afternoon friends, Today I am going to present a little bit of a fieldwork I did in the Grand Canyon (USA).                                          Photo by: Déborah de Oliveira, 2012.   Geology and slope strongly influence the formation of Grand Canyon soils, so they are classified as underdeveloped. The soils are highly variable, ranging from the soils of the humid forests of the Northern Rim to shallow. The Grand Canyon is formed by several layers of sandstone, schist, limestone, and so on. Erosion, mainly by water (and ice) and second by wind, were responsible for carving the Grand Canyon. Other forces that contributed to the formation of the Canyon are the course of the Colorado River itself, volcanism, climate variations. The Grand Canyon National Park, near the city of Flagstaff, I consider the most interesting place to visit because there is a geo...

Folks! How important is soil to human beings? This video can be used in the classroom to present the importance of soil to students! See the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1wKImkrdno

The Earth Colors Project of the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) teaches how to make earth-based paints. These paints can be very effective for painting external and internal walls. By using them you can avoid the use of common paints that, besides being expensive, leave that strong smell in the environment. These inks only requires soil, water and white glue. See    some  explanatory slides for the preparation of paints on the Project website :  Click here! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also a video of the project: PAINTING WORKSHOP - COLORS OF EARTH

Layers of edible soil A Portuguese company of educational toys and owner of the channel Science4you, produced a video to teach in a ludic (and edible way) the layers of the ground. The ingredients are accessible and the explanation is quite interesting for those who want to start the "soil" subject with their little scientists.

Learn more about this day by clicking below. https://www.embrapa.br/busca-de-noticias/-/noticia/11582581/dia-nacional-da-conservacao-do-solo-sua-historia-e-um-alerta-da-fao

Brazil releases the organic carbon map of the soil.

Learn from Embrapa how to build a solar water irrigator. Solar water irrigator diagram from Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation). (Instructions in portuguese) https://www.embrapa.br/instrumentacao/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/1057985/irrigador-solar-instrucoes-de-montagem-e-de-funcionamento

The United Nations has called 2015 the International Year of Soils and hopes that the initiative will mobilize society for the importance of soils as a fundamental part of the environment and the dangers of their degradation around the world. Soil degradation is recognized as a risk for the maintenance of life on the planet. Meanwhile, population growth implies a greater demand for food and raw materials. The dilemma of producing food, reducing environmental impacts caused by intensive land use, recovering much of the already degraded natural resources, and preserving the remaining natural systems is also at stake. Reference: www.fao.org

A poem to the soil Goretti Albuquerque If you feel so weak Thinking in giving up Ask the human being to be aware And try to improve everything Save its nutrients That they're trying to take away Earth that gives us plenty That put the food on the table That feed so many people It requires our knowledge From the human beings Leaving her in oblivion Ask for nature To be compassionate with you And teach human beings not to be its enemy Who takes of you, your livelihood But it is a perverted being Soils of the brazilian savanas Punished by drought Wait, the rain is coming Pretty soon, do not forget. The little buttons in bloom They will sprout, you will not fade away Sprouts the weed Also the lilies of the field Covers the grass and all the earth With sparkle and charm If the human kind does not take care of you Your tears will soon come

The project “Soil at School” of University of São Paulo was present at the 21th GeoSciEd, at UNICAMP. https://www.ige.unicamp.br/geoscied2018/pt/