Tactile observation and a mudshake enable students to classify their soil as sand, silt, or clay. Compaction and percolation tests enable them to measure how much space is in their soil. 10.A.2a Organize and display data using pictures, tallies, tables, charts, etc. Collect data for investigations using scientific process skills including observing, estimating and measuring. All living things need air and water to survive.
Healthy soils have plenty of spaces for air and water to flow through.
The Compaction Test is a measure of how packed together the soil particles are and therefore how much space is available for air and water to get into the soil. In highly compacted soils the pencil will not go down very far, but in less compacted soils the pencil will go deeper into the soil. The Percolation Test uses water to measure the compaction of the soil. If there are plenty of available spaces, the water will flow through faster, and if the soil is highly compacted, the water will flow more slowly. The type of soil that you are working with also can affect the rate of water flow.