Search

Soil knowledge is essential to address modern global challenges. Soil science education began with soil survey and agricultural activities, with a focus on the traditional subdisciplines of soil chemistry, soil physics, pedology, soil mineralogy, and soil biology. Soil education has evolved to address the needs of an increasing variety of fields and increasingly complex issues, as seen through the move to teach soil content in programs such as biological and ecological sciences, environmental science, and geosciences. A wide range of approaches have been used to teach soil topics in the modern classroom, including not only traditional lecture and laboratory techniques but also soil judging, online tools, computer graphics, animations, and game-based learning, mobile apps, industry partners, open-access materials, and flipped classrooms. The modern soil curriculum needs to acknowledge the multifunctionality of soils and provide a suite of conduits that connect its traditional subdisciplines with other cognate areas. One way to accomplish this may be to shift from the traditional subdiscipline-based approach to soil science education to a soil functions approach. Strategies to engage the public include incorporating soil topics into primary and secondary school curricula, engaging the public through museums and citizen science projects, and explaining the significance of soil to humanity. Soil education has many challenges and opportunities in the years ahead.

Professional natural resource managers require a solid understanding of sustainable soil practices. Postsecondary institutions are increasingly integrating innovative approaches such as hybrid problem-based learning (PBL) and team-based learning (TBL) to train future professional land managers to tackle complex problems. This article describes the application of a hybrid PBL--TBL approach in a combined undergraduate and graduate level course, Sustainable Soil Management, offered at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. The course utilizes 15 modified PBL cases, where "modified PBL" refers to a hybrid PBL-TBL approach. The course aims to provide experiential learning opportunities for students to connect with practicing professionals and community partners in addressing real-world issues. Course instructors identified several challenges related to the modified PBL approach including multiple outcomes based on data interpretation, imbalanced team composition, and complex cases that demand advanced education and/or experience. However, course instructors and students were favorable of the enhanced teaching and learning opportunities offered by the hybrid PBL-TBL format. Student engagement was facilitated by the practical relevance of the cases, the opportunity to incorporate fieldwork, and interactions with external (guest) case contributors; and a balance between knowledge-based and competency-based learning outcomes was achieved. This hybrid PBL-TBL approach could serve as a framework for other postsecondary courses focused on sustainable management of natural resources.

This study explored practices that Canadian soil scientists use to educate postsecondary students, K-12 students, and the general public. The most commonly used type of educational activities described by survey respondents, regardless of the settings and the type of target audience, were field-based hands-on activities. The other two commonly used educational activities were lectures and laboratory activities; and they were predominantly implemented at the postsecondary institutions. Educational activities in K-12, outreach, and professional development settings were generally delivered through one-time events (e.g., workshops, school visits, field days), offering less opportunities for a greater variety of practices relative to the postsecondary settings. At postsecondary institutions, where soil science education is delivered in a more structured manner, there are more opportunities for educators to implement a range of educational practices (e.g., lectures, laboratory activities, games, case studies, quizzes). The learning objectives of the field-based hands-on activities and lectures were to describe specific soil properties or to describe and classify soils, whereas for laboratory activities, the learning objectives focused more on the application of those concepts. The insights offered by this study on educational practices used by Canadian soil scientists to encourage more students to study soil science and raise awareness about the importance of soil are valuable teaching resources for both new and seasoned educators within Canada and abroad.

As global issues continue to place increasing demands on soil resources, the need to provide soil science education to the next generation of soil scientists and the general public is becoming more imminent. In many countries around the world, including Canada, soil is either not included in the high school curriculum or it is not covered in depth. To address this need for better integration of soil science into high school programs in Canada, a national collaborative program entitled Soil 4 Youth (soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/youth/), was established in 2009. The goals of the Soil 4 Youth program are to: (1) promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers, (2) create open access soil education resources that can be directly implemented in high school curricula in Canada, and (3) raise awareness about the importance of soil. During the initial 4 years of the Soil 4 Youth program, we developed a variety of soil education resources, struck collaboration with several provincial high school teachers' associations and not-for-profit organizations focused on promotion of science, and focused our efforts toward reaching a broader group of high school teachers and students. Our initial efforts of building the Soil 4 Youth program indicate that it is a viable platform through which collaboration among Canadian soil scientists and high school teachers can take place to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. Impact Statement: The Canadian collaborative program, Soil 4 Youth, was established to promote the discipline of soil science to high school students and teachers. The program provides a platform for collaboration among soil scientists and high school teachers to ensure that high school students are better informed about the importance of soil. This article describes the development of the Soil 4 Youth program, offering insights into the challenges and potential solutions to advance soil science education for youth.

Since soil plays a crucial role in all aspects of global environmental change, it is essential that post-secondary institutions provide students with a strong foundation in soil science concepts including soil classification. The onset of information technology (IT) and web-based multimedia have opened new avenues to better incorporate traditional, static educational resources such as soil monoliths into post-secondary teaching and learning. The objective of this study was to develop an open access, web-based educational tool entitled "Virtual Soil Monoliths" (VSM) (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/monoliths/), based on a soil monolith collection at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. With 197 monoliths, the UBC collection is the second largest of its nature in Canada, but due to poor storage and displays it has been underutilized in teaching. The VSM tool was developed by a team of scientists, instructional designers, IT specialists, and students and integrated into the Introduction to Soil Science course at UBC to support lectures and laboratory sections on parent material identification and soil classification. Student feedback indicated the VSM tool was helpful in facilitating student achievement of learning objectives related to basic soil classification and soil identification skills. Students used the VSM tool to complete assignments in the Introduction to Soil Science course, and students pointed out that the high-resolution monolith photographs were the most useful feature of the tool. This study provides a framework for incorporating inventory-type learning resources into an interactive teaching tool and a "living" educational resource that helps students grasp connections across disciplines. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 1 footnote.)

As instructors return to in-person teaching and learning following online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can build from the experiences gained and incorporate various online resources into our campus-based classes. Drawing from student evaluations of teaching, a postcourse student survey and learning management system (LMS) analytics, we documented students’ perspectives of online teaching and learning in a large introductory science course offered as a flipped classroom, and reflect on student and instructor perspectives as we return to campus-based teaching and learning. Results suggest that what students liked and what they perceived as effective often did not align, and that instructors need to consider good pedagogical practice when evaluating student comments. We identified strategies that we can carry forward to enhance our large introductory science course including a weekly course structure, synchronous classes and laboratories supported by asynchronous content, and taking advantage of recent advancements in online teaching and learning tools for discussion forums, practice exams and assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil knowledge is essential to address modern global challenges. Soil science educa- tion began with soil survey and agricultural activities, with a focus on the traditional subdisciplines of soil chemistry, soil physics, pedology, soil mineralogy, and soil biology. Soil education has evolved to address the needs of an increasing variety of fields and increasingly complex issues, as seen through themove to teach soil content in programs such as biological and ecological sciences, environmental science, and geosciences. A wide range of approaches have been used to teach soil topics in the modern classroom, including not only traditional lecture and laboratory techniques but also soil judging, online tools, computer graphics, animations, and game-based learning, mobile apps, industry partners, open-access materials, and flipped class- rooms. The modern soil curriculum needs to acknowledge the multifunctionality of soils and provide a suite of conduits that connect its traditional subdisciplines with other cognate areas. One way to accomplish this may be to shift from the traditional subdiscipline-based approach to soil science education to a soil functions approach. Strategies to engage the public include incorporating soil topics into primary and secondary school curricula, engaging the public through museums and citizen sci- ence projects, and explaining the significance of soil to humanity. Soil education has many challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since soil plays a crucial role in all aspects of global environmental change, it is essential that post-secondary institutions provide students with a strong foundation in soil science concepts including soil classification. The onset of information technology (IT) and web-based multimedia have opened new avenues to better incorporate traditional, static educational resources such as soil monoliths into post-secondary teaching and learning. The objective of this study was to develop an open access, web-based educational tool entitled "Virtual Soil Monoliths" (VSM) (http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/monoliths/), based on a soil monolith collection at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. With 197 monoliths, the UBC collection is the second largest of its nature in Canada, but due to poor storage and displays it has been underutilized in teaching. The VSM tool was developed by a team of scientists, instructional designers, IT specialists, and students and integrated into the Introduction to Soil Science course at UBC to support lectures and laboratory sections on parent material identification and soil classification. Student feedback indicated the VSM tool was helpful in facilitating student achievement of learning objectives related to basic soil classification and soil identification skills. Students used the VSM tool to complete assignments in the Introduction to Soil Science course, and students pointed out that the high-resolution monolith photographs were the most useful feature of the tool. This study provides a framework for incorporating inventory-type learning resources into an interactive teaching tool and a "living" educational resource that helps students grasp connections across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread use of heavy equipment during timber harvesting and site preparation can lead to reduced soil productivity and warrants development of new methods to assess compaction. We evaluated the effects of soil particle density, organic matter, particle size distribution, extractable oxides, and plastic and liquid limits on the maximum bulk density (MBD) of forest soils in British Columbia. Soil samples were collected from 33 sites throughout British Columbia, covering the major forest and soil types of the province. The standard Proctor test was used to determine MBD and related parameters, including the gravimetric water content (WMBD) and porosity (fMBD) at which MBD was achieved. The significance levels of single soil properties in predicting MBD were in the order plastic and liquid limits, organic matter, oxalate-extractable oxides, and particle size distribution. For all samples, liquid limit and clay were most closely related to M BD (R2 = 0.83). Addition of organic matter to the model increased the regression coefficients, and oxidizable organic matter caused a greater increase than did total C. Stratification of the sample set into groups based on plasticity led to higher R2 values in multiple regressions, and different soil properties were important for nonplastic soils than for those with high, moderate, and low plasticity. Prediction with multiple regression explained the most variation in MBD for nonphstic soils, while properties of highly plastic soils explained the least variation in MBD and moderately plastic soils were intermediate. Based on our findings, we propose an approach for using MBD to help better interpret bulk density data in forest soil compaction studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who identify as soil scientists work in countries around the world, but what fields do these professionals obtain their credentials in and are those fields uniform from one country to another or do they vary by country? We undertook investigations in eight countries, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, to explore these questions. Definite differences were found between countries. In Australia, the most common route to a soil science career was through Environmental Science programs, followed by Agriculture and Agronomy programs. The USA was similar, with Agriculture and Agronomy programs being the most common path followed by Environmental Science. Training through Agriculture and Agronomy and Environmental Science programs was also common in the United Kingdom, but with a significant proportion also in geosciences (geography). Brazilian undergraduate degrees were dominated by Agriculture and Agronomy programs, with training through Forestry programs also common. By contrast, training did not occur through undergraduate Agricultural and Agronomy programs in Israel and was relatively uncommon in Canada. The most common degree paths in Canada were Geosciences and Environmental Science, while training in Israel occurred in Soil Science/Soil and Water Science and Civil and Environmental Engineering programs. South African training was primarily in Soil Science/Soil and Water Science and Agriculture and Agronomy programs. There were no undergraduate programs in Japan that prepared students for careers in soil science. The results of our study show that the agriculture and agronomy link to soil science is strong in many countries, as shown by the common pursuit of degrees in these areas to train as a soil scientist. However, the results show that this link is not universal, and that soil science also has strong links to a number of other fields, including environmental sciences, forestry and geosciences, at least in select countries. Some countries, particularly Israel and South Africa, also had a strong focus on stand-alone soil science or soil and water science degrees. The wide range of academic training pursued by people who are seeking careers as a soil scientist shows that there is not universal agreement on where soil science fits within the academic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]