Through Soil Explained, SoilTribes invites educators, students, researchers, practitioners, and curious citizens to explore soil through accessible expert interviews and classroom experiment videos.

Created by the Consortium partner Office for Climate Education, this educational video series brings soil science closer to society through clear explanations and practical learning activities. The videos support a better understanding of how soils form, how they function, how they are affected by climate change and human activities, and how they can be part of the solution to today’s environmental challenges.

The series includes two types of videos:

Expert interviews, offering insights from soil and climate specialists on key questions such as how climate change impacts soils, how human activities influence soil health, and how soils can contribute to climate action.

Classroom experiments, designed to make soil properties visible and understandable through hands-on activities. These videos explore topics such as soil water content, water retention, organic matter, decomposition, soil air content, soil composition, and nutrient exchange capacity.

Davide Cerati explains how climate change affects soils, from rising temperatures and longer droughts to heavier rainfall events.

This experiment shows students how to measure soil water content using a simple drying method. By weighing soil before and after drying, they can estimate how much water was present in the sample.

This experiment helps students explore how water moves through soil. By pouring water into a soil sample, measuring drainage time, and comparing water volumes, they can understand how different soils retain or release water. The activity highlights why soil structure matters for plants, ecosystems, and climate resilience.

This activity helps students observe how organic matter varies across different soil samples. A stronger reaction indicates a higher organic matter content, showing why organic matter is important for soil health, fertility, structure, and biological activity.

This experiment helps students understand how soil microorganisms contribute to organic matter decomposition. By comparing living and sterilized soil samples, they can observe the important role microorganisms play in breaking down organic material.

This experiment helps students explore how soils retain nutrients through cation exchange capacity. By comparing how two coloured solutions, eosin and methylene blue, pass through soil, they can observe how the clay-humus complex retains positively charged particles.

This experiment helps students measure soil air content using a simple displacement method. By placing a soil sample in water and observing the air bubbles released, they can estimate how much air was present in the soil.

This experiment introduces young students to soil composition through a simple decantation method. By mixing soil with water and allowing it to settle, they can observe how soil separates into layers of organic matter, humus, clay, silt, sand, and sometimes gravel.

Martin Ziesak, Professor Emeritus at Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences in Switzerland, explains how healthy soils can help address climate change.

Loes van Schaik, researcher and lecturer specialized in Soil Physics and Land Management at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, explains how human activities affect soils and the essential services they provide.

Giulia Bongiorno, lecturer and researcher specialized in soils at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, introduces what soils are, how they form, and why they differ from one place to another.