Durham County Extension and a team of nine master gardener volunteers have created an innovative way to teach North Carolina third grade students about soil.
Through their efforts 20 local educators were trained and, in turn, taught nearly 1,500 students the 4-H program Soil Solutions.
The curriculum and hands-on experiments, using research from NC State University and NC A&T University, introduces students to the relationship between the ground we walk on and the food we eat. It meets North Carolina’s third grade science standard course in plants and soils.
The response to the program was overwhelming and they were asked to teach it to more classes than they had available volunteers. So the group turned to technology and created a series of online videos and materials that teachers could use to lead the classroom lessons and experiments themselves.
The teaching materials are free to use and available through the Durham County Cooperative Extension office.