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Grade 3 Science · World 2: Soil Lab · Level 12
Which Soil Grows Plants Best?
Read a plant-growth investigation and explain why loam works best.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 12
- Which soil grows plants best? Plant the same kind of bean seed in sand, clay, and loam.
- Make it a fair test: give each pot the same water, the same sunlight, and the same size pot. Only the soil is different.
- After three weeks, measure each plant and make a bar graph.
- Loam grew the tallest plant. It holds some water but lets the extra drain away, and its humus gives plants nutrients. Sand dries out fast, and clay can stay too soggy.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:
- S3E1.b — Plan and carry out investigations to describe properties (color, texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support growth of plants) of soils and soil types (sand, clay, loam).