News from the Soil Science and Geoecology WG
Winning project 2023 of the innovation funding program at the University of Potsdam
Suitcase and backpack for a better consciousness of SOIL
There is still too little awareness of soil as a resource in society. For schools and extracurricular places of learning, it must be noted that they can hardly fulfill the educational aim of "creating soil awareness". On the one hand, the teachers (for geography, natural sciences, biology) themselves are insufficiently trained in soil science topics. On the other hand, they usually don’t have enough time to teach selected topics. The idea of the project is to develop a prototype equipped with materials for a soil suitcase (SOIL-aware, in German: BODENbewusst) and a backpack (in terrain/direct contact with soil – SOIL-contact, in German: BODENkontakt). The materials are intended to encourage children (elementary school) and young people (secondary school) to explore soils in their natural environment through direct contact on site. In the future, the suitcase and backpack will be used by trained soil ambassadors in schools and extracurricular facilities in Brandenburg.
Contact: Dr. Beate Gall
