On 12 September 2024, volunteers of the Society headed to the Docklands Campus at the University of East London for the British Science Festival. The society hosted a drop-in session titled ‘Digging Deeper into Soil’ which formed a series of experiments for attendees to discover the land we stand on and how we can preserve this important sub-surface world.
Photo credit: Max Allcock – Horizon Collective
The festival is Europe’s longest standing science festival and aims to connect people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists. The programme featured free events for the public including: talks, workshops and drop-in events. We were pleased to engage with lots of school groups and members of the public to educate them on the importance of soil and inspire them with the work that we do. We also used the resources from one of our loan boxes which included the soil texturing, super sponges and the jam jar experiment. The most popular aspect of our stand was the microscope which was connected to a big screen so attendees could see soil and all the organisms up close.
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- Photo credit: Max Allcock – Horizon Collective
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- Photo credit: Max Allcock – Horizon Collective
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- Photo credit: Max Allcock – Horizon Collective
Engaging with the box helps to address the lack of mainstream education in soil science, which is a result of soils not being covered by the national curricula, limiting public recognition of the importance of soils. Through our community engagement via events we have seen a demonstrated appetite for educational materials relating to soil science from educators and related organisations.
Dr Lizzie Sagoo, President Elect at the British Society of Soil Science who exhibited at the British Science Festival said: “The soil science loan boxes are a fantastic way to cultivate a curiosity in our natural world and hopefully inspire the next generation of soil scientists! I have used the loan boxes with years 3-5 at a four different primary schools over the last year. The boxes include all the material needed to deliver a practical session on soil science to children. They come with different types of soil and material needed for the jam jar experiment and the super sponges experiment where children can compare how much water different types of soils can store. The children enjoy looking at the different types of soil and doing the experiments. You don’t need to be a soil scientist to use the loan boxes! The information sheets provide everything you need to run a session. As well as schools, they could also be used with other community groups such as Cubs or Brownies, or events like Open Farm Sunday.”
Photo credit: Max Allcock – Horizon Collective
