Shea

Hestmark

Separating Soil

Standards of Learning:
3.7 The student will investigate and understand the major components of soil, its origin, and its
importance to plants and animals including humans.
c) Rock, clay, silt, sand, and humus are components of soils;
3.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature
of science by planning and conducting investigations in which
a) Observations are made and are repeated to ensure accuracy;
b) Predictions are formulated using a variety of sources of information;
j) Inferences are made and conclusions are drawn;
k) Data are communicated;

Materials:
Observation worksheets
Three glasses
Organic soil
Sifter
Stirrer
Pencils
Colored pencils or crayons

Engage:
Remind students that there are many different types of soil, but all soil contains various
amounts of sand, silt, and clay. By separating the soil, this experiment will prove to the students
that soil is made up of these three main components. They will observe and record what they see
and hypothesize why the soil separates into different sections when water is added.

Explore:
1. Give each student an observation worksheet to record his or her data. Also give them a
pencil and coloring utensils.
2. Explain to the students that we are going to separate the different components of soil in
this glass by creating a soil-water mixture.
3. Explain that the soil you are using is organic soil that has been sifted before class. The soil
has been sifted so that any large chunks of soil, sticks, or rocks have been removed. This
will allow for a more accurate experiment.
4. Have one or two students pour soil into the glass or jar until it is 1/3 of the way full. Then
instruct them to fill the remainder of the glass with water. If using a jar, have the students
shake the jar until all of the dirt is mixed. If using a glass instruct the students to mix the
water and dirt thoroughly with a stirrer until all the dirt is mixed and loose from the
bottom of the glass.
5. Next instruct the students to illustrate and note what they see on their observation
worksheet.
6. Allow the dirt to separate for five minutes.
7. While you are waiting have the students make predictions about what they think is going
to happen and why. Remind them about the three main components of soil: silt, sand, and
clay.

8. After five minutes has passed allow the students to again illustrate and note their
observations on their worksheets.
9. Next show the students a glass of water and soil that was mixed and left to settle the night
before. Explain to the class that the sedimentation process takes much longer than five
minutes; therefore you started the experiment last night so that the class would have
more time to talk about what happened during the experiment.
10. For the third and final time, have the students illustrate and note what they see in the
glass that has been separating for 24 hours.
Explain:
1. What has changed from when we first added water to the soil and mixed them together
to the glass of soil and water that has settled for 24 hours?
2. Why do you think the soil has separated?
3. What are the three main components of soil?
4. Which particles are the biggest? Which are the smallest?
5. If we did not sift the soil before conducting the experiment, how do you think the results
would have changed?

The science behind separating soil:
Of the three main components of soil, sand is the largest and heaviest particles. Because it
is the heaviest, it settles at the bottom of the glass. Additionally the sand layer is thicker than the
other layers. The silt layer is the second heaviest layer in the soil water mixture. It is slightly
darker than the sand layer. Silt is the medium size particles found in soil. The third layer of the soil
water mixture is the clay. Clay is the lightest and smallest particles in soil. The clay layer is light in
color and settles at the top. Above the clay rests floating organic matter that was also in the soil.
The reason the soil water mixture separated because of a process called sedimentation. The
sedimentation process is the tendency of particles suspended in a fluid to settle at the bottom of
a container to form a solid layer of particles (Types of Soil, 2013).


Expansion:
To further explore the three main components of soil and further the students practice of
implementing scientific observation, an extension of this lesson is to have the students record
their observations about sand, silt, and clay in separate containers using their senses of touch and
sight. They will be able to look closely at the different components of soil and make comparisons
about them. They will also further their practice of scientific investigation and data recording
which are key science SOLs for third grade. The students will record their data on an observation
worksheet. This will aid the students understanding of the previous lesson because they will be
able to see the different substances as individual components when they are not wet in a glass or
water or mixed together in soil samples.

Evaluate:
For both the separation experiment and the soil observation extension the students
observation worksheets will be useful tools for evaluation. The questions posed to the class about
what they think will happen, what happened, and the hands on interaction with the materials will
also allow the teacher to observe the students understanding of the concepts being taught. Any
student misconceptions can be documented from the student data collected through their
observation worksheets and addressed in further lessons.

Types of Soil. (2013, January 1). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/michaelcameron9
/gardening/

Observations:
Before Shaking

Five Minutes After

The Next Lesson
Shaking

Label the drawing of your jar to show which part is clay, which part is silt and
which part is sand.
Discussion:
1. Compare your results to the results of the other students. What do you
find?
2. What has changed from when we first added water to the soil and mixed
them together to the glass of soil and water that has settled for 24 hours?
3. Why do you think the soil has separated?
4. What are the three main components of soil?
5. Which particles are the biggest? Which are the smallest?
6. If we did not sift the soil before conducting the experiment, how do you
think the results would have changed?