"People in cities may forget the soil for as long as a hundred years,
but Mother Nature's memory is long and she will not let them forget indefinitely."
- Henry Cantwell Wallace
but Mother Nature's memory is long and she will not let them forget indefinitely."
- Henry Cantwell Wallace
Unit Relevance:
As Paulo Freire suggests, privileged individuals (beginning with our own "privileged" students) must recognize their privilege and use it to help the oppressed before we, as humans, can ever truly be free of oppression at a social level. (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970)
Essential Questions:
Why is there such variation between local zip-codes in relation to social status and environmental quality?
What does soil have to do with inequality?
What are the personal and social implications (both short and long term) of soil quality on health, class, socioeconomic status, etc.?
What does soil have to do with inequality?
What are the personal and social implications (both short and long term) of soil quality on health, class, socioeconomic status, etc.?
Student Understanding:
Students will understand that: Health and environmental conditions are affected by things as small as the quality of the soil upon which your house or community are built. Health and environment are often negated for the betterment of business, political, and cooperate greed and need, especially in poor or highly diverse neighborhoods.
Students will know: how to test soils for pollutants, acidity, salinity, and absorption (etc.). They will be able to determine quality of soils based on test tube analysis and be able to recommend gardening/irrigation/additive techniques to improve soil quality. They will understand how plants take up and store nutrients and how that can affect plant consumers (including humans).
They will be able to analyze the health impacts on consumer populations whom use/consume plants grown in toxic soils.
Students will be able to: Produce results from data analysis in charts, grids, maps, etc., they will be able to understand the importance of soil in the environment, and feel empowered to change regulations regarding toxins fed into the environment by corps. Etc.
Students will know: how to test soils for pollutants, acidity, salinity, and absorption (etc.). They will be able to determine quality of soils based on test tube analysis and be able to recommend gardening/irrigation/additive techniques to improve soil quality. They will understand how plants take up and store nutrients and how that can affect plant consumers (including humans).
They will be able to analyze the health impacts on consumer populations whom use/consume plants grown in toxic soils.
Students will be able to: Produce results from data analysis in charts, grids, maps, etc., they will be able to understand the importance of soil in the environment, and feel empowered to change regulations regarding toxins fed into the environment by corps. Etc.
Important Vocabulary:
Science terms:
loam
clay
silt
sand
organic material
Tullgren Funnel
pH
acid
base
sustainability
Social Science Terms:
oppression
privilege
environmental justice
equity
equality
loam
clay
silt
sand
organic material
Tullgren Funnel
pH
acid
base
sustainability
Social Science Terms:
oppression
privilege
environmental justice
equity
equality
Supplies and Resources:
Each lesson in this unit requires a slightly different set of materials, supplies, and resources. Here is a general list of things you will need access to in order to perform the unit overall:
pens/pencils
paper
internet access
computer
printer
smartboard/whiteboard/chalkboard/overhead
DVD player and TV
control grade soil
lab stations/work benches
blown up map(s) of the local area plus radius markers on the map at 5, 10, 20, 30 mile markers (more if desired)
thumb-tacks or small place marker needles
text printouts from provided lessons
lab printouts and materials from lab lessons
OH - and creativity! You'll need that too! :)
pens/pencils
paper
internet access
computer
printer
smartboard/whiteboard/chalkboard/overhead
DVD player and TV
control grade soil
lab stations/work benches
blown up map(s) of the local area plus radius markers on the map at 5, 10, 20, 30 mile markers (more if desired)
thumb-tacks or small place marker needles
text printouts from provided lessons
lab printouts and materials from lab lessons
OH - and creativity! You'll need that too! :)
PLEASE Note:
I am a student at NEIU and completed this curriculum project as a requirement for Dr. Allison Dovers' course, "Social Justice Curriculum - EDFN 492", inspired by the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce. All contents on this website were integrated into this lesson as a student, who was challenged to embrace local liberatory curriculum development from my own discipline of focus (biology in this case). The curricular frameworks (maps, lesson plan, guides, etc.) represented here have been adapted from CGCT, yet the content reflects my own work and perspective. It does not represent a CGCT curriculum and is not classroom-‐tested. We do hope this site assists you in your inquiries into grassroots curriculum development. Please see www.grassrootscurriculum.org for more information on the group we collaborated with. Thank you.