Raising Soil Awareness in Primary and Secondary Schools Through Indoor Workshops—Designs and Lessons Learned

Soils, although fundamental to life on Earth through their provision of essential ecosystem services, remain underrepresented in global environmental education at primary and secondary levels. To address this gap, we developed two versions of an interactive soil awareness workshop for primary and secondary education. The shorter ‘Soil-Hour’ format includes an introductory lesson on soil and a quiz, while the ‘Soil-Day’ format incorporates a lesson, a brief soil sample investigation, a quiz, and a creative art activity. Both formats were designed around seven keywords: new, unusual, interesting, entertaining, competitive, digital, and rewarding. Assigning multiple roles to students encourages active participation. Implemented 16 times in various schools with a total of 361 participants, the workshops have been successful in sparking curiosity about soil, improving understanding of soils, and enhancing appreciation of the fundamental role of soils in the environment. Feedback from students and teachers was positive. Students’ responses largely confirmed expectations that they would be amazed by soil sounds, surprised by the range of soil ecosystem services, and intrigued by soil biodiversity. Initial findings support further development and refinement of these soil teaching and awareness-raising approaches at the primary and secondary levels to promote greater engagement with soil science in school curricula.