It’s time to Soil Your Undies!
Mr. Dale’s sixth grade science classes welcomed Cheyanne Skomars from Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District to help us learn about the importance of soil and soil health through this fun and engaging project. Students buried 100% cotton underwear in several locations around the school property as a way of testing microbial activity in the soil. Students learned about the composition of soil and soil profiles, and they collected and used data on soil pH, weather, and analyzed soil samples to create a hypothesis on what will happen to the underwear at their site based on the data they collected. Some of this data was collected by Mr. Dumont’s eighth grade science classes, who are also collaborating with Cheyanne and PCSWCD to investigate soil chemistry.
In June, we will return to the sites and dig up the underwear to see how much of the cotton was consumed by microbes in the soil. If the underwear is significantly decomposed, it will indicate healthy soil at that location, with high microbial activity.
Thank you to Cheyanne and Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District for helping us with this project!
For more information on the Soil Your Undies project, visit: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/…/soil-your-undies-challenge