Initial Publication Date: October 17, 2025

Soil & Food Security MEL

The Soil and Food Security MEL asks students to consider the role of soil in providing food for the world's growing global population. Soil is essential to human life. Not only is it vital for providing most of the world's food, it plays a critical role in ensuring water quality and availability. Soil helps to mitigate climate change and affects biodiversity.

MEL Activities

There are two forms of this Soil & Food Security Activity....a pre-constructed (pcMEL) and a build-a-MEL (baMEL). The pcMEL limits student choices, which may be good for the first time the activity is introduced to a class or if you are working at earlier grade levels. The baMEL allows more choices, which may be good for students who have used the MEL before or are at an advanced grade level. Below the activity links are additional teaching resources that will help students use the Soil and Food Security baMEL and learn more about fundamental scientific principles related to soil health, farming, and food security.

Overview

This slide deck provides an introduction to the Soils and Food Security build-a-MEL (baMEL). It is useful even if you are using the Soils and Food Security pcMEL with your students. The primary difference between the pcMEL and the baMEL is that with the pcMEL students are given two models and four lines of evidence in a preconstructed diagram where as with the baMEL students choose two models from three and select four lines of evidence from eight to create their own MEL diagram.

Activity 11: Soil and Food Security front slide


Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations

MS-ESS3A-1: Natural Resources

  • Humans depend on Earth's land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geological processes.

MS-ESS3C-2: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

  • Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.
  • Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

HS-ESS3A-1: Natural Resources

  • Resource availability has guided the development of human society.

HS-ESS3C-1: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

  • The sustainability of human societies and the biodiversity that supports them requires responsible management of natural resources.

HS-ESS3C-2: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

  • Scientists and engineers can make major contributions by developing technologies that produce less pollution and waste and that preclude ecosystem degradation.

Other Resources

This Plausibility Ranking Task (PRT), which may be completed prior to using any MELs, helps students to understand the role of evidence in supporting or refuting models.