The importance of art in teaching students about science is often overlooked.  In our program we use soils to teach about color blending as well as hue, value and chroma.  Students their first look at the soil profile and weathering is discussed in the context of why soils have different colors.  We demonstrate how soil was used as pigments before synthetic pigments were created.  Students quickly see the beauty of soils and learn not to call it "dirt".