96 of the country’s 98 municipalities are represented when 30,000 students divided across 1,384 classes and 500 schools participate in Masseeksperiment 2025, where this year’s theme is ‘Soil Health’. A number of the country’s leading researchers are ready to receive and analyze the students’ soil samples and datasets.

Masseeksperiment 2025 is organized by the national science education center Astra and is the world’s largest ‘student science’ project. Since 2007, Astra has developed a new experiment each year in collaboration with some of the country’s leading researchers. Masseeksperiment 2025 has been developed in collaboration with researchers from Aarhus University, Aalborg University and the Technical University of Denmark.

Is there a difference in soil health on the school playground, at the edge of a forest or in a city park? What can the condition of the top 40 centimeters of soil tell us? And how is the soil’s most important organism, the earthworm, actually doing?

These are some of the questions that 30,000 Danish students will help researchers answer when they take the temperature of Danish soil health. For a time, students transform different natural areas into precisely measured sample plots and collect data, exactly as professional researchers do. The thousands of students from primary and secondary schools will at the same time investigate a number of chemical, physical and biological factors, collect eDNA samples and loose soil samples, which will be sent to the researchers and analysed for problematic substances such as PFAS, pesticides and nitrate.

An exercise in both science and action

The purpose of Masseeksperiment is to strengthen children’s and young people’s scientific competences by letting them work with the same authentic methods as professional researchers, while also giving them knowledge they can act upon. It is applied science education that takes place in the real world, and the results are to be used in the real world. Through the soil investigations, the students gain experience with how research is carried out in practice, and their results contribute with knowledge that benefits all Danes and may in the long term even influence new legislation.

“You don’t know what the soil beneath our feet really is until you have had it between your fingers. It motivates the students enormously when they apply practical, authentic methods in scientific investigations and at the same time experience that their contribution can be used in real research,” says Lene Christensen, MSc and program manager for Masseeksperiment.

Masseeksperiment is citizen science at its best: A collaboration between engaged students and experienced researchers – a joint effort for a greener future.

From the classroom to the researchers’ laboratories

The students’ collected soil samples and datasets are sent to researchers at Aarhus University, Aalborg University (Microflora Danica) and the Technical University of Denmark, who are ready to analyse both the physical, chemical and biological parameters. The enormous nationwide dataset from the students will help researchers identify patterns and trends in soil properties across Denmark’s regions.

“In recent years it has become clear to us that soil health is declining both in Denmark and globally. Many people are not aware that over 95 percent of all food is produced on agricultural land, and therefore it is very important to protect the soil resource. At the European level, huge efforts are being made to gain an overview of the state of soil health. The data collected by the students will contribute to gaining this overview. We will in fact be able to prepare maps of elements of soil health based solely on the data collected by the students,” says Mogens Humlekrog Greve, professor at Aarhus University.

Publication of results

When all samples have been analysed, the researchers compile the results in a report that communicates the most important conclusions to both the public and the participants. The first results will be published at the beginning of December, perhaps with surprises about what actually lies right beneath our feet?

“It is really exciting for us researchers to receive samples from every corner of Denmark. We will receive samples collected near the participating schools, e.g. urban areas, parks, playgrounds and private gardens, from which we currently have no information about soil health. This will contribute to us being able to speak about the state of soil health across all of Denmark,” says Mogens Humlekrog Greve.

www.masseeksperiment.dk/ 

Masseeksperiment 2025: Soil Health:

• 30,000 students, divided into 1,384 classes and 500 schools, participate in Masseeksperiment 2025, where this year’s theme is ‘Soil Health’.
• 96 of the country’s 98 municipalities are represented in Masseeksperiment 2025.
• This year’s experiment is carried out in collaboration with researchers from Aarhus University, Aalborg University (Microflora Danica, eDNA samples) and DTU.

The students carry out the following investigations in the Basic Experiment:

• Description of the sampling site (geotope)
• GPS value and photographic documentation
• Description of vegetation cover
• Collection of eDNA sample
• Description of the soil profile (classification of soil color and soil layers’ depth) down to 40 cm
• Description of soil structure down to 40 cm depth
• Description and registration of earthworms
• Collection of soil samples at 10 and 40 cm depth for the researchers

The students carry out the following investigations in the Extra Experiment:

• Collection and preparation of soil samples (loose soil, soil clods and ring samples)
• Measurement of soil pH with pH strips
• Observation of soil texture with a sedimentation test
• Determination of potential water repellency with a droplet test
• Assessment of soil stability with a ‘clod test’
• Measurement and calculation of soil bulk density using ring samples
• Assessment of soil lime content with an acid test

FACTS ABOUT MASSEEKSPERIMENT:

• Masseeksperiment is an educational and research project consisting of a basic experiment for all students from grade 4 and an extra experiment for older or particularly interested students.
• Masseeksperiment is supported by the Nordea Foundation and the Villum Foundation and the research component is supported by the Poul Due Jensen Foundation.
• Masseeksperiment has taken place since 2007.
• Masseeksperiment is organized by Astra – the national science education center. It is the world’s largest “Student Science” project, and each year new a experiment is developed in collaboration with university researchers.
• The purpose of Masseeksperiment is to strengthen children’s and young people’s scientific literacy by letting them work with the same authentic research methods as professional researchers. A secondary purpose is that students become able to act on a scientifically informed basis.
• Previous years’ Masseeksperiment have, among other things, dealt with lactic acid bacteria, indoor climate in classrooms and mosses, lichens and tardigrades in Danish nature. The results have on several occasions been published in recognized international scientific journals.

For more information contact:

Press coordinators Masseeksperiment including assistance with case stories, contact to researchers, etc.:
Lisbeth Beyer Mogensen // lisbeth@promote-it.dk // Tel.: +45 26 36 11 10
Mettelise Larsen // mettelise@promote-it.dk // Tel.: +45 27 26 26 23

Lene Christensen
Special Consultant, Program Manager for Masseeksperiment
lch@astra.dk // Tel.: +45 24 88 10 92