K-12 IYS Activity

Soil Ecosystem Services in Jeopardy Summary The participants will be introduced to soil and its importance, as well as the concept of ecosystem services. Materials (per student, group etc.) the soil, its rich biodiversity, and the many ecosystem services it provides us with. Eco- Then, the students will engage in a — AV System/Projector—to project either system Services are the benefits that people game of Jeopardy, where they will be the online game version or the Power- receive from the environment. Biodiversity challenged to think more about the point file (PPT) that is also posted to is the degree of species variety within an way that these services impact their January's soils.org/iys website. daily lives. Afterwards, each team ecosystem. Biodiversity is important because — Monopoly/Fake Money will use their “winnings” to buy the each species fills a niche in its ecosystem, services they feel are most important. — Buzzers: one per team and if we lose that species, we may also lose the vital service they provide to humans. Participants will gain an appreciation If the room does not have AV capabilities: for the multitude of ways soil supports — Blackboard/Chalkboard ASSESSMENT: JEOPARDY GAME human health and well-being. — 24 Pieces of 8×10 Paper­: Front Go to http://www.jeopardyapp.com/play/ Value of the question ($100-$500); soil-ecosystem-services to play the game Learning Objectives/ Back: Answers. on-line or download and use the Jeopardy Outcomes — Question List (provided) PPT also listed under January on the 1. Students will be able to state why — Poster: List ecosystem services with soils.org/iys website. soil is complex and connected to “monetary values” • Online Version: When you click on a dollar everything on Earth. amount, a question appears. To display the answer, click “Correct Response”. If using 2. Students will be able to describe Ages of Audience why it is essential that people col- the website to keep score, click the green laborate across disciplines and High School check mark for a correct answer and the work collectively to protect it. red X for an incorrect answer. Be sure to choose the appropriate team. To return to 3. Students will be able to review the Recommended group size? the game board, click “Continue.” value of soil ecosystem services Unlimited from both an ecological and eco- • Downloadable PPT Version: Click on a nomic perspective. Where could you offer this? dollar amount to view the question (1). To view the answer, click on the soil logo Local School, Library, Etc. in the bottom-right corner. To return to Key Words the game board, click on the soil logo Soil, Ecosystem Services, Carbon What type of room do again. Tally points on the chalkboard/ Sequestration, Nutrient Cycling, you need? whiteboard. Biodiversity Classroom, preferably with AV capabilities If making a physical version of the game: 1. Print out Question List (for Game (may be more than one) Type of Lesson Moderator) Interactive, Jeopardy + Real World 2. Print out Answer Bank (1 per team) Application 3. Print or draw out game board using 24 Time Needed pieces of 8×10 paper. For the first 4 pieces, write the “Category Titles:” Supporting 45-60 minutes Services, Regulating Services, Provisioning Services, and Cultural Services. For the Methods/Procedures remaining 20, include the dollar value on one side ($100-$500) and the corresponding INTRODUCTION—LECTURE answer on the backside. Soil is quite possibly our most valuable natu- 4. Set-up game on chalkboard/whiteboard ral resource. It is considered non-renewable, with categories across the top row Celebrating the because it is created at such a slow pace and with each corresponding column that it cannot keep up with the rate at which ascending from $100 at the top to it is destroyed. Throughout history many $500 at the bottom. civilizations have fallen, simply due to mis- management of the soil. In order to prevent a similar fate, we must become stewards of continued... soils.org/IYS K-12 IYS Activity: Soil Science Society America–2 Soil Ecosystem Services in Jeopardy

5. Chose a team to start and have them EVALUATION: WRAP-UP/DISCUSSION these lines, so what happens in one place select a category and a value of their • Share which ecosystem services you greatly impacts the areas downstream choosing. chose to purchase and why. or downwind. We all rely on the soil for our survival, so it is important that we 6. Read the corresponding question from • Based on what your group chose, do collaborate and work collectively to the list. you think that your city can survive protect it! 7. Whichever team “buzzes” in or raises with just these services alone? • We can increase sustainability in both their hand first gets the first chance • If we continue operating at “business agriculture and in industry. We can edu- to answer. as usual,” do you think we will be able cate people around the world about the 8. If student is correct, allocate points to to maintain all of these ecosystem importance of soil. We can write to our their team. If the student is incorrect, services? politicians and request that they pass deduct points from their team and • What happens if we lose one of these laws to protect the soil or to incentivize open the floor to other teams. components (i.e. water purification, carbon sequestration. We can choose to 9. Whichever team answers correctly may air purification, soil fertility)? If this buy from corporations that are better select the next question. happens in one country, how does it stewards of the environment. We can 10. At the end, tally up the points. impact their neighbors? choose to buy our food from farmers who • What can we do to ensure that we take care of the soil. We can compost our APPLICATION: PURCHASING continue to benefit from the ecosystem food waste and plant our own gardens. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES services that soil provides? • Pass out play money or 8×10 inch cards ANSWER BANK (with dollar amounts) to each team based SAMPLE ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION Disease, Water Cycle, Carbon Sequestration, on their “total winnings.” QUESTIONS Energy Resources, Medicine, Primary Produc- It is very difficult to rank the importance • Tally up the total “winnings” for each tion, Soil Fertility, Food, Nutrient Cycling, of ecosystem services, because we depend team and either pass out play money Spirituality, Education/Science, Ecotourism, on nearly all of them for our survival and or 8×10 cards. Raw Materials, Seeds, Recreation, Pests, because different people and cultures value Gemstones, Air Purification, Habitats, • Explain to students that each team will each aspect differently. Water Filtration represent a governing body and will be • How long can we last without air? Water? responsible for “purchasing” ecosystem Food? While these may be most important SUPPORTING SERVICES services that they feel should be pro- to our immediate survival, alone they • 100—The soil serves as a storage house tected as a part of their hypothetical would not be enough to maintain life on for these, which when germinated can nation’s Environmental Policy. Earth. How long can we last if tempera- re-vegetate whole landscapes. ANSWER: What are Seeds Ecosystem Service Costs: tures continue to heat up and sea levels continue to rise? If we lose the ability of • 200—The soil provides support for plants, • Seeds—$100 the soil to control disease, how long could holding them in place and giving them Primary Production—$200 human health be maintained. Many of the access to water and nutrients so they Water Cycle—$300 ecosystem services that soil provides are can undergo photosynthesis, which leads Nutrient Cycling—$400 intimately connected and if we lose one, to what? Soil Fertility—$500 many others may suffer. ANSWER: What is Primary Production • Pests—$100 • It gets very expensive, very fast to • 300—What continuously moving process, Disease—$200 replace the services that nature already involves evaporation, precipitation, Carbon Sequestration—$300 provides us for free. For example, ten snowmelt, runoff, and movement into the Water Filtration—$400 years ago NYC’s groundwater became too soil? ANSWER: What is the Water Cycle Air Purification—$500 polluted to drink. They were told it would • 400—This recycling of materials through • Gemstones—$100 cost $6-8 billion to build a filtration plant, the soil frees up substances like carbon, Raw Materials—$200 and millions still annually to operate it. In nitrogen, and phosphorus, making them Energy Resources—$300 the end, they chose to invest $1 billion in available as the building blocks for new Medicine—$400 restoring the watershed, allowing the soil living matter, such as plants. Food—$500 to purify their water instead. ANSWER: What is Nutrient Cycling • Recreation—$100 • If we lose one of these components, • 500—This is the ability of a soil to supply Art—$200 other services will inevitably be affected, nutrients necessary for plants to live Ecotourism—$300 because everything in the soil is deeply and grow. Spirituality—$400 connected. When we look at a map, ANSWER: What is Soil Fertility Education/Science—$500 we see boundaries around nations, but these are just lines on a map. In reality, continued... wind blows and water flows right past

Soil Science Society of America www.soils.org www.soils4teachers.org K-12 IYS Activity: Soil Science Society America–3 Soil Ecosystem Services in Jeopardy

REGULATING SERVICES PROVISIONING SERVICES CULTURAL SERVICES • 100—A healthy and diverse food web • 100—­ These valuable resources, often • 100—Soil provides the turf playing fields in the soil will include beneficial used for jewelry, can be found in soil, for soccer, football, and golf. These microorganisms and insects, which especially near rivers and streams. activities, supported by soil, are all help in the control of these. ANSWER: What are Gemstones types of what? ANSWER: What are Pests • 200—Soils provide sand, gravel, and clay ANSWER: What is Recreation • 200—Biodiversity in soils prevents the used as building materials. Soil is also the • 200—Soil provides the materials needed spread of pathogens that cause what? home for trees and other plants, which to make paint and pottery clay, which are For example, fungi in the soil produce provide us with paper, cloth, lumber and used to create works of what? antibiotics to protect plants from this. firewood. These are known as what? ANSWER: What is Art ANSWER: What is Disease ANSWER: What are Raw Materials • 300—Soil provides the solid foundation for • 300—Plants take up CO2 during • 300—In the search for more sustainable hiking and mountain biking trails, as well photosynthesis and release it into the sources of this, many farmers are growing as, campsites and national parks. This can soil through respiration. When they die corn and soybeans for use as biofuels, be economically beneficial to communities the carbon that was in the plant can be such as ethanol. as it attracts this. stored for long periods of time in the ANSWER: What are Energy Resources ANSWER: What is Ecotourism soil as organic matter. This process is • 400—Nearly all of the antibiotics used • 400—Many cultures throughout history known as what? today, such as Penicillin, were discovered have had deep connections to the Earth. ANSWER: What is Carbon Sequestration from soil microorganisms. Due to its vast They felt that the soil was sacred, part • 400—As water moves deeper and deeper genetic diversity, soil is a major source of of their own life cycles, and valued it as underground, the soil removes solid discovery for this. the provider of their sustenance. This is particles and contaminants, and turns ANSWER: What is Medicine a form of what? dirty water into clean water through • 500—Soil grows the vegetation that many ANSWER: What is Spirituality what process. livestock animals depend on and the • 500—Exploring and researching the ANSWER: What is Water Filtration plants that provide humans with fruits, wonders of soil allows humans to better • 500—The ability of the soil to remove vegetables, grains, and more. These soil- understand the natural world and provides gaseous pollutants from the atmosphere derived products that nourish our bodies opportunities for advancements in what? and hold them underground or break and provide us with energy are known ANSWER: What is Education and Science them down into less toxic substances as what? is known as what? ANSWER: What is Food ANSWER: What is Air Purification

Sample screens from the game.

Soil Science Society of America www.soils.org www.soils4teachers.org