• This video demonstration describes how solar energy is stored in the Earth's soil and how soil temperature changes at different depths.
• It connects the stable soil temperatures to ecologically important habitat for hibernating organisms and plants and identifies this as a solution for passive heating and cooling.
• The experiment shown could easily be replicated as a lab exercise.
  

Positives

• A thorough verbal explanation and presentation of graphical data shows how soil is effective at storing solar energy.
• The narrator presents many options for collecting this type of data that could be simply applied outside of the classroom.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with terms such as solar energy and temperature.
• If you'd like to gather data with your students, you need enough thermometers for your class.

Differentiation

• Before watching the video, lead a discussion about student predictions of how temperature changes in the soil throughout a day or year. Ask students if they think soil temperature changes with depth.  Ask students what animals might depend on soil temperature for survival.
• Math students can use this resource to connect interpreting data and creating graphs to solving important questions in science and society.
  
• To learn more about soil and extend this lesson, show students this NASA's Earth Minute: Dishing the Dirt resource and then have students work in groups to describe how soil moisture and temperature affect ecosystems.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.