Digging Into Nutrients
In this lesson, students will gain background knowledge of the nutrient requirements of plants, how those nutrients are obtained by the plant, what farmers must do if the nutrients are not available in soils, and current issues related to agricultural production.
Background
Lesson Activities
Recommended Companion Resources
Credits
Author
Pamela Emery | California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom
Acknowledgements
This lesson was updated in 2013 with funding from California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom and a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Fertilizer Research and Education Program. The Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) funds and facilitates research to advance the environmentally safe and agronomically sound use and handling of fertilizer materials. FREP serves growers, agricultural supply and service professionals, extension personnel, public agencies, consultants, and other interested parties. FREP is a part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Division of Inspections Services.
Editor: Shaney Emerson
Executive Director: Judy Culbertson
Illustrator: Toni Smith
Layout and Design: Nina Danner
Copy Editor: Leah Rosasco
Standards
National Content Area Standards
- Career & Technical Education
- AFNR (Grades 6-8): Plant Science Systems Career Pathway
- PS.01.02: Prepare and manage growing media for use in plant systems.
- PS.01.03: Develop and implement a fertilization plan for specific plants or crops.
- PS.02.03: Apply knowledge of plant physiology and energy conversion to plant systems.
- PS.03.02: Develop and implement a management plan for plant production.
- AFNR (Grades 6-8): Plant Science Systems Career Pathway
- Science
- MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
- MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
- MS-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- MS-LS1-6: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
- MS-LS1-1: Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
- MS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and non-living parts of an ecosystem.
- MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
- MS-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity