Education & Resources
Find out more about Soil Science
Whether you are a member wanting to find out more about the professional soil competencies, or a teacher interested in resources to support your class, our resources section is here to provide you with the information you need.
Unearthing your inner Soil Scientist with our Soil Science Loan Boxes? The downloadable resources below will help you deliver the best outreach event possible!
Educational Resources
Working with soil Competencies
Our full and Fellow members are required to work to our 10 Working with Soil competencies.
Introduction to Soil Structure
Read our introduction to the different types of soil structure, how to achieve good structure, and degrees of development in soil structure.
Create a Wildflower Lawn or Mini Meadow in your garden
Plant wildflowers in your garden to create a natural display that looks stunning and will also benefit bees, butterflies, birds and all wildlife.
Hand Texturing
Soil is made up of a mixture of mineral (sand, silt, clay) and rotted plant (organic) material. Use this leaflet to find out what soil you have.
Soil Factoids
How much do you know about the soil you are standing on? Here are a few fascinating
soil facts to share with your friends and family!
Soil Explorers: Experiments
Soil Explorers - Jam Jar Experiment
Shake it- shake it all about! Come show us your moves in the name of science!
Soil Explorers - Super Sponges
Do you know soil holds water? Come and do our experiment and pour water all over our ‘soils’; can you tell our scientists what will happen next?
Great Worm Hunt
Join us on a Great Worm Hunt and find out more about these fascinating creatures that live beneath the ground.
Storybooks: Plant A Story
Plant A Story: I Want to Grow Plants
Plant A Story: Meeting Friends
Fun Activities
My Soil Mates
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of both the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) and the Sociedad Española de la Ciencia del Suelo (SECS) in 2022, we offered a joint grant aimed at promoting collaboration between members of both societies for the benefit of soil science.
We are delighted to share with you the My Soil Mates resources created from the funding, published in both English and Spanish. Congratulations and thank you to Marta Gil Martínez, Lourdes Morillas Viñuales, Pablo Homet Gutierrez, Rodica Pena, Katie Somerville-Hall and Tammy Edmonds-Tibbett.
Posters
Life in earth
Did you know that one teaspoon of healthy soil holds more creatures than there are people on the whole Earth!
Save our soils!
You might not think it, but our lives depend on soils! Without them we’d struggle for food, water, building materials and many other essential ingredients for supporting human life.
Soils in the City
Strong enough to support even the biggest buildings!
Protectors of wildlife and the environment!
Helping in the fight against flooding!
Soils in the Garden
Healthy soil supports healthy plants – and the activity of gardening helps people stay healthy too. That’s a lot of healthiness to be gained from soil!
Soils of Britain
There’s more to soil that just ‘mud’! In fact, there are over1,800 different types of soil in Britain, each with its own unique story.
Soils and Spaceship Earth
Planet Earth is like a giant spaceship. It provides all of the life support systems that enable us to survive in the harsh environment of space. None of this would be possible without soil.
Soils and Time Travel
The stories of our past are buried in the soil beneath our feet. The remains of old buildings, coins, pottery, tools, food, plant pollen, animals… sometimes even human bodies!
VIDEOS
#Grounded
“The biggest global challenges to do with our climate and the state of our planet have soil at the heart.” Find out how you can make a difference and be part of our campaign #Grounded.
SOIL AND THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
To support the Society’s aim of highlighting the importance of soil in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our four videos were released in conjunction with the World Congress of Soil Science 2022.