Providing the Inside Scoop: Beyond the Profile.

To increase awareness of soils, the Wheat State Agronomy Club set out to elementary school classrooms. The Club purchased 100 “Soil! Get the Inside Scoop” books from the Soil Science Society of America for distribution. Club members ventured to the fourth grade classrooms of their home communities with books in hand. The books were donated to 100 classrooms or schools in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, and reached 1,946 fourth graders. Members were encouraged to give a presentation to the classes that could be tied together with the soils books they were distributing. Teachers of the fourth grade classrooms were very willing to have college students in the classrooms, especially since this year the Kansas science assessments at the fourth grade level are associated with the study of soils. The students in all of the fourth grade classrooms were very appreciative of the visits and willingly participated in the hands on activities. Wheat State Agronomy Club members were happy to be able to provide the inside scoop on soil to the students in the communities where they grew up!