Explore: Biomes and Soil

Teaching notes and ideas: Teachers may want to build a vocabulary wall as students are working through these labs. To save time and materials these labs can be set up as stations and students can rotate through them in a period of days.

Part A. Introduction to World Biomes

In this exercise students engage with HHMI Biome Viewer either online or in an ipad version. Students complete a companion worksheet (linked to site). Note: Educators will want to download and print the worksheet ahead of class.

HHMI Biome Viewer is an online interactive multimedia tool that allows users to add layers, zoom and pan. Students can explore biomes, climate, biodiversity, and human impacts around the globe and at different historical time periods. Using this tool, students can set up and research questions of their own design.
Time required: 1-2 50-minute class periods (could be done as homework)

Part B. Connect Soil to Biomes

Following the above introduction to biomes, climate and organisms, educators can direct students in one of two ways. 
Key Point: Which came first the soil or the biome? 

Option 1. If students have completed the activities outlined for Module 5, ask the students to return to their soil poster / brochures and update it with climate and biome information. Student teams will share their updated poster / brochure and look for connections between biomes and soil. 
Time required: 1-2 50-minute class periods (could be done as homework) 

Option 2. If students are new to this topic, have them access a PPT file or KMZ with biomes, and climatographs linked here: Biomes and Climatographs

  1. View the PPT file and then relate the soil type (series and order) to the climate and vegetation.
  2. Students can then add soil information to a location of their choice. Source of soil information: Soil Web
  3. In this app, use the menu to input location, then click on the map, once the "map unit composition" sidebar comes up, click on a soil type for soil taxonomy includes links to other maps and land use classification.

Time required: 1-2 50-minute class periods (could be done as homework)