Over the course of three sessions, students act as agricultural engineers and learn about the sustainable pest control technique known as soil biosolarization in which organic waste is used to help eliminate pests during soil solarization instead of using toxic compounds like pesticides and fumigants. Student teams prepare seed starter pots using a source of microorganisms (soil or compost) and “organic waste” (such as oatmeal, a source of carbon for the microorganisms). They plant seeds (representing weed seeds) in the pots, add water and cover them with plastic wrap. At experiment end, students count the weed seedlings and assess the efficacy of the soil biosolarization technique in inactivating the weed seeds. An experiment-guiding handout and pre/post quizzes are provided.
- Subject:
- Biology
- Career and Technical Education
- Life Science
- Physical Science
- Material Type:
- Activity/Lab
- Provider:
- TeachEngineering
- Author:
- Jesús D. Fernández Bayo
- RESOURCE GK-12 Program, College of Engineering, University of California Davis
- Date Added:
- 10/13/2017