K-12 Lesson Plans

LandPKS Teacher Manual

9 pages of background information designed to help teachers guide students through using the app to measure soil, vegetation and topography (slope). This resource includes examples of how LandPKS is being used to manage land for livestock and wildlife in Africa.

Sustainable Land Management Lesson 1

Students receive an introduction to the LandPKS program and goals. They participate in hands-on activities that introduce them to the soil indicators they will be using in the next lesson to collect data with the LandPKS applications. Each activity helps students: (1) understand the importance of the indicators, (2) become familiar with the options for each indicator, and (3) acquaint themselves with the application screens they will interact with in the field.

60 minutes

Sustainable Land Management Lesson 2

Lesson 2 puts the knowledge students gained in the classroom in Lesson 1 into action as they collect data outside. Students work in groups to collect data on soil properties, land cover, and other characteristics of one or more sites in the schoolyard or local area.

60 minutes

Sustainable Land Management Lesson 3

In this final lesson of the module, students will use the data they collected in Lesson 2 to generate Land Capability Classifications (LCCs) using the LandPKS app. They will learn about and apply their new knowledge of LCCs to design a possible solution to a land management dilemma.

60 minutes

Using LandPKS for Rangeland Monitoring: Soil, Grazing, and Rangeland Management

This Earth Academy lesson plan introduces California high school students to rangeland management through grazing, and teaches them how to monitor rangeland health. Students use LandPKS to explore land cover as an indicator of soil health and overall ecosystem health.

Using LandPKS for Rangeland Monitoring: Plant Species

This Earth Academy lesson introduces California high school students to changing environmental conditions through rangeland monitoring. Students investigate impacts on local species and perform species density calculations using the LandPKS Vegetation Module.